


Disquiet Loyalty

by Aeridne



Series: Courting Souls [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Compliant, Developing Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Implied Relationships, M/M, Romantic Soulmates, Slow Burn, Social Anxiety, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tattoos, Time Skips, Volleyball Dorks in Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:48:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 51,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27626323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aeridne/pseuds/Aeridne
Summary: Alternate universe in which everyone gets their soulmate tattoo sometime on their fifteenth birthday. Some people put great stock into the phenomenon while others simply don't care. This story follows those who try to balance their daily lives and the discovery of their soulmates.Or: How Yamaguchi and Kenma handle the soulmate phenomenon
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: Courting Souls [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2019827
Comments: 48
Kudos: 187





	1. KK

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This story stems from "Setter Souls" which comes first in the series, but it can technically be read separately. However, as a heads up, I think it's better if "Setter Souls" is read first. It follows the manga/anime very closely, including actual scenes and some dialogue (by Haruichi Furudate), but has some added soulmate elements. It's written from two different perspectives and each chapter alternates between the pair. Elaborate character depictions are my personal headcanon for the story, and there are spoilers for the entire manga series, including time skips!

Kenma sat, slouched over his phone, tapping away at the buttons trying to complete a level of a game. It sang out happily that he lost the level and he sighed, rolling his eyes and shifting in his perched position a bit; uncomfortable now that he had been sitting on a hard, cool, concrete block wall by a random park for the past fifteen minutes. He didn’t know where he was. His volleyball team, Nekoma, had come all the way to Sendai from Tokyo for a match against this school called Karasuno which was an old rival team of theirs, apparently. Though it didn’t seem like the schools had actually played against each other in a long time. Not that he minded either way, but getting lost wasn’t really on the top of his list of things to do in Sendai. Not that he had a list to begin with. Rolling his shoulders, he focused back on the screen, determined to conquer this level before he was found. 

“Hi! Whatcha doin’?” A bright voice called out.

Kenma looked up at the sound and was met with a very energetic seeming guy with vibrant orange hair and a toothy, happy smile. He looked like he was around the same age as himself, or middle school maybe since he was kind of petite.

“Huh? Umm.. uh..” Kenma fumbled a bit, not preferring to talk to strangers, “being lost?”

“Oh! Really? So you’re not from around here?” The radiant kid asked.

“No,” Kenma answered, glancing quickly between his game progress and the intruder. He deftly tapped away at his screen a few more times before he realized the guy had come over to him and crouched down, craning a bit to see the screen too.

“Is that fun?”

“Huh? Uhhhh…not really,” he replied, “it’s just a good way to waste time..”

“Oh really?” The guy followed up, peeking at his progress.

“Yeah..”

A small silence fell, then was broken abruptly, “you play volleyball?!”

“Huh?!” 

“Those shoes are volleyball shoes, right?!” The guy chirped, peering into Kenma’s unzipped gym bag he had lazily shrugged off before.

“Oh.. uh.. yeah..” he blinked and stared at the guy, who was really starting to grab his attention now.

“I’m on a volleyball team too! I’m Hinata Shouyou!” He said brightly, happily looking at him with an expectant sort of tilt to his body.

Kenma stared at him for a beat, wide-eyed, then looked away and replied, “Kozume…”

“Kozume? Is that your first or last name?” He asked, seemingly unperturbed by Kenma’s reluctance.

“Kozume Kenma,” he finished. 

“Oh! Kenma, huh? Are you in high school?”

Kenma muttered, “yeah.”

“Oh! Me too! I’m a first-year! You?”

“Second,” Kenma answered, then glanced back at this sunshine kid, watching him falter.

“Ah! Whoops! You’re my senpai! Sorry Kenma-san!” He corrected. Kenma grimaced and looked back to the ground.

“It’s okay.. I don’t really care for that, um, senpai-kouhai stuff anyway. It’s too stiff and formal.” He said quietly.

“Oh. Really?” Shouyou, said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. When Kenma didn’t elaborate further, he piped up again, “so, um, do you like volleyball?”

Kenma looked back at him and tilted his head slightly at his persistence, “mnnn.. meh.. I’m kinda just playing it. I don’t hate it. I just don’t like getting tired and sweaty and stuff. Some friends of mine play on the team though.. and I think they’d be kinda upset if I wasn’t there.”

“Huh.. I think you’d have way more fun if you learned to like it.” Shouyou replied, rocking around on the balls of his feet like he was having trouble keeping still.

“Ehh.. I’m only going to be playing through high school anyway..” Kenma shrugged and glanced around the park a bit. He wasn’t sure why he decided to have an actual conversation with this guy, but the latter was oddly alluring, like a special, seasonal event in an MMO game.

“What position do you play?” Shouyou asked happily, continuing on, despite their obvious difference of opinions on the sport.

“Setter,” Kenma answered.

“Wow, really?! You’re totally different from our setter! He’s more like ‘grrraaahh!’ and ‘hrrrrgh!’ all the time!” Shouyou exclaimed loudly, waving around his body in a goofy motion.

Kenma raised his eyebrows at him, “oh.”

“I’m a middle blocker, by the way!” Shouyou chirped cheerfully.

“Ah,”

“Yeah, it’s really weird, isn’t it?! Middle blocker is supposed to be a position played by all the tall guys.” Shouyou continued, but he looked a bit apprehensive for a flash of a second.

Kenma stared, waiting to see if he would continue or not, then said after his pause, “yeah it is, I guess.. but it doesn’t seem weird to me. I get that kind of thing at tournaments a lot too. People look at me like, ‘setters are supposed to be the smart guys, what’s he doing there?’ I mean.. I’m not a gifted athlete or anything.”

“Hunnhh..” Shouyou replied, looking contemplative for a second, then, “so is your team any good?”

“I dunno. I hear we used to be really good, then we got really bad. But the team we’ve got now..” Kenma answered, gazing at the ground, then he looked directly into Shouyou’s openly curious face, “I think it’s pretty good.”

Shouyou looked stunned for a moment, looking back into Kenma’s eyes before he started to say, “um.. w-what’s the name.. of your-“

“Kenma!” A loud, irritated voice rang out and Kenma immediately looked over to the caller, knowing exactly who it was.

“Ah. Kuro,” he mumbled, then got up and started towards his teammate, “gotta go!” 

Shouyou looked like he was about to say something or follow them, but he stood there a bit distractedly, so Kenma gave him a small wave while he walked off with Kuroo, “see ya later, Shouyou.”

“Quit wandering off..” Kuroo griped, then started leading the way back to where they were supposed to be, “who was that?”

“I dunno. Some guy from Karasuno, I guess,” Kenma answered, then went back to his phone game.

“Hmmmmm? Making friends already? Wow!” Kuroo jibed.

Kenma flicked his eyes up to Kuroo’s smug face, then refocused on his game, giving him a small shrug.

They made it back to the gym pretty quickly, although Kenma wouldn’t have been able to retrace the route himself, and Kuroo hastily snatched up his phone from his hands once they entered.

“Kuro...” Kenma complained.

“Time for the match, I’ll pop this in your bag for ya!” Kuroo sang and did just that. Kenma looked around and realized they were standing in the gym with the rest of their teammates already and he spied Karasuno warming up across the way. He immediately spotted that guy from before, Shouyou, as he was kind of hard to miss.

Blinking from his gaze, he took in his surroundings now that he was actually paying attention, and he realized there was a strange sort of thrum in the air. Kenma looked down at his empty hands, wondering where the buzz was coming from since he wasn’t miraculously holding onto his phone again. He glanced back at Kuroo and held up his hands in a mild gesture that could really have meant anything, but Kuro looked back at him and frowned, “yeah, I’m getting that too..”

His friend put his hands on his hips and looked around blandly, then picked up a stray volleyball and remarked, “must be the mountain air.”

The matches went pretty well, and Kenma was able to ignore the gentle thrum with his surprise at Shouyou’s unexpected zipping around the court like a bottle rocket. Kenma ended up spending a good amount of time just analyzing the players on the court and finding solid ways to stop them from scoring, which completely distracted him the entire time. He was exhausted by the end of it, as they played three full matches, six total sets, and won every single one of them.

They thanked Karasuno for the games then were starting to leave when Kenma heard Shouyou call out to him, “Kenma!”

Kenma paused and turned to face him, wondering what the other would want to talk about now, “back when we met on the road..you said you didn’t really like volleyball all that much, right?”

“Huh?.. yeah.. I guess..” Kenma replied quietly.

“What about now? You won all those awesome games! What do you think now?” Shouyou asked, staring him down.

“Um.. it was.. okay.. I guess?” Kenma mumbled.

Shouyou paused, then said a little heatedly, “next time, we’re gonna make you play real hard, and make you get really determined, but we’re gonna win.. and then, we’re gonna make you say ‘it was really fun!’ or ‘it was a hard loss’ or ‘we’re gonna get you next time!’.. something, anything other than just ‘it was okay’!” 

Kenma blinked in mild surprise at him for a beat, then answered with a small smile, “okay. I’ll look forward to it.”

He watched Kuroo exchange pleasantries with Karasuno’s captain, both looking like they were going to break each other’s hands with their vice grips, then headed out with his team to catch the train back to Tokyo. Batteries running low, Kenma needed to charge up; so he simply pulled his phone out of his bag and continued his current game level, disengaging from the world around him.


	2. YT

Tadashi and Tsukki walked along the street towards their houses after a pretty dramatic group study session. They had met up with the other first years on their volleyball team right after practice to work on homework and so Tsukki could tutor Kageyama and Hinata. Their team had an unexpected training camp in Tokyo coming up really soon, but everyone needed to pass their exams to be allowed to attend. Tadashi was floored when Hinata and Kageyama had approached them a few weeks prior after practice one evening and begged Tsukki to help them study. He was even more astonished when his best friend agreed, albeit begrudgingly. 

Tadashi had been really close with Tsukki ever since elementary school. He really admired the tall blonde’s bold indifference to the harsh opinions of others, even if he was a bit mean sometimes. He spent most of his days following the other around, loving how cool and intelligent he was with basically any situation. It was infatuation, and he came to this realization pretty fast. There was just something about their time together or the longevity of their friendship that was so stable, that it felt right. When he received his soulmate tattoo in the middle of the night on his fifteenth birthday, he was shocked when he immediately recognized that they weren’t a match. 

Tsukki had this colorful little sun and moon, blanketed by stars placed on the inside of his ankle. But Tadashi’s tattoo turned out to be a really cute image of a spotted, sleeping cat that looked peaceful with the words ‘quiet loyalty’ written in Japanese characters along its tail. It was just a few inches big and placed on the inside of his right wrist. When it first appeared, Tadashi had stared at it for a long while, first in his surprise that it didn’t match Tsukishima’s, then in general bemusement at the imagery itself. Usually, he’d seen tattoos that were landscapes, or nature-themed, like Tsukki’s, or his parents. But to have a cutesy, somewhat stylized cat was a bit puzzling. Cats were great, sure, but he couldn’t determine what it had to do with him. The words made sense to him though, as he knew he was generally rather shy. He would admit, as much as he didn’t want to, that he wasn’t a very confident person and was pretty quiet. In the end, he didn’t really know how he felt about the soulmate phenomenon. It left him feeling vague. 

The surprising thing about their freshly departed study session was that Kageyama had divulged information about his soulmates. The guy was so prickly and conceited, it just seemed really unlikely that he’d be into the phenomenon or pay attention to it in the least. Yet there he was on that outdoor bench, talking about how he and Suga-san, their vice-captain, were dating and how he knew about his third soulmate too; after some verbal needling from Tsukki to fess up. Tadashi had honestly not paid close enough attention to his teammates’ tattoos once he realized they couldn’t be a match for himself. He knew Kageyama had one on his forearm, and so did Suga-san and Ennoshita-san. But the rest of their teammates' tattoos were decently hidden away, with no one else having them on their wrists. Daichi-san’s was the next most visible, being on his upper bicep, but even that was typically covered by a normal length, short-sleeved shirt like his school uniform button down. The last person on the team he could think of with a visible tattoo was Tanaka-san, who had a small, red, heart with an arrow through it behind his ear on his neck. Tadashi always thought this one was particularly funny, given Tanaka-san’s delinquent-like, tough-guy personality.

He walked along, keeping pace with Tsukki who was listening to his headphones, but then started to lag. Just before Tsukki got too far ahead of him, he reached out and snagged Tsukki’s hand. 

The blonde slowed his pace and turned to look back over his shoulder, using his unoccupied hand to tug one side of his headphones off his ear, “what?”

“.. umm,” Tadashi started, not quite sure what he really wanted to say, or where he wanted to even start. He had so many things sloshing around in his head like he was trying to carry a large bowl of water across a stretch of sand. Tsukki waited for a beat, then two, then started to put his headphones back over his ears before Tadashi was able to pipe up again, “why.. why didn’t you tell me?”

Tsukki paused his motion, then continued by pulling them down completely and leaving them hanging around his neck. He glanced down slightly at his friend, “I didn’t think you’d want to talk about it, since we don’t match. Besides, the King sure does seem to have his hands tied up with all of that. Who’d want to get involved? What a mess.”

“B-but.. when did you find out about it? If you knew before the Interhigh tournament and knew all of that buzz was coming from them, why didn’t you say?” Tadashi asked quietly. He felt blind-sighted that Tsukki would just withhold information about his team from him. His friend didn’t really talk to others about anything substantial, but he always managed to gossip about his teammates or classmates with Tadashi. In retrospect, now that he was thinking about it, Tsukki had been a little on the quiet side when the soulmate topic was brought up recently.

“Hmm.. why indeed,” Tsukki replied, looking unfazed, “I don’t want to talk about soulmate bullshit.”

“Soulmate bullshit?” Tadashi repeated, then, “I know you’re not a fan of all of it.. but.. umm.. that’s a bit harsher towards it than you’ve been before, Tsukki..”

Tsukki looked back, directly into his eyes, “it’s just more of the same bullshit, so who cares? We can still do what we want, right? So what does any of that matter? I really loathe having to deal with others’ ridiculous drama about it though. For fuck’s sake, that match was nearly intolerable. I felt like I was drowning in it. They better sort out their shit or at least keep it out of club, else I’m quitting.”

“Ehh?! You wouldn’t, Tsukki!” Tadashi exclaimed a little frantically, then said quietly, “now who’s being dramatic?”

Tsukki just rolled his eyes and started to walk again, holding Tadashi’s hand. They were in a strange sort of limbo with their relationship, having never talked it out and said what it was or set any sort of boundaries; which was probably the reason for everything being so confusing all the time. He didn’t know if they were dating or not, or if it was casual, or really, really close friends, with benefits sometimes. But Tsukki seemed to need a real push to put legitimate effort into things that he really wanted, otherwise he’d just be content to coast along on his intellect alone. Always getting things done in a timely way, but always just exactly what was expected and never anything extra. It could be a really infuriating quality.

“Tsukki..” Tadashi ventured again as they walked along, hand in hand, feeling a warm breeze pick up around him and ruffle his hair.

“Hm?” 

“You found one, didn’t you?” He asked, quietly, almost certain the wind carried his question away with it. 

“Hm,” Tsukki just hummed in response.

Tadashi took that as a ‘yes’ and also a big, ‘I’m really not talking about this’, both of which made him instantly regret asking in the first place. He frowned and didn’t ask anything else, his eyes trailing around the ground as they finally reached the front of his house. Tsukki stopped when he stopped, still holding his hand comfortably. That comfort built on years of friendship and trust. 

It felt like a confirmation to his question, as Tsukki suddenly wrapped his arms around him in an enveloping hug and said close to his ear, “Don’t worry about it. See you tomorrow.”

He leaned back and lightly pressed their lips together for the briefest moment then let go. Tadashi felt himself swaying forward, chasing the sensation, but Tsukki was already gone and stalking off towards his house, which was just a few further down the road. Tadashi watched him go for a minute, wondering if he’d ever get real answers.  _ He won’t tell me who it is, will he?.. no, I don’t think he will. _

A few weeks later, Tadashi stood around with his teammates after practice at an away training camp held at Shinzen high school. The camp included several Tokyo schools like Nekoma, Fukurodani, Ubugawa, and Shinzen. They had spent all day playing practice matches against these other schools, switching out players and working on new team plays and individual skills. Tadashi was exhausted after having played in several games and since Karasuno as a whole was trying to boost their arsenal of attacks, they spent a lot of time trying out new things and ended up losing nearly all their matches because of it; which led to taking multiple penalty drills. 

Despite all that, they were evolving slowly, but surely. Tadashi even caught onto a new play he was interested in trying out called the ‘serve and block’, since it was like the ultimate move. He had realized since nearly the beginning of club practices that he wouldn’t be a regular this year. He just didn’t have the same special skill sets that each of his other first-year teammates had. Obviously, Kageyama was a setter genius, so him being on the starting line up was a no brainer. Hinata sort of shoe-horned himself in by latching onto Kageyama with a killer attack system that only he could pull off which greatly boosted their offense as a team; and lastly, Tsukki had turned into their primary defense. He was the tallest on the team anyway and was innately talented in blocking. Tadashi figured that the best way to make an impact for the team was to learn a special serve and bolster it that way, so he had been learning a jump floater technique that he nearly had pinned down. 

Tadashi looked around his teammates as they loitered just outside the gym, several of them taking a rest in the grass and chit-chatting about the number of times they ended up running up and down this huge, grassy hill behind the gym as a penalty. He wiped his face with a towel and heard the third years mention that they were going to keep practicing some of the new techniques they picked up within the past month. Asahi-san suddenly put in that he was going to work on his serve accuracy. Tadashi looked over to him, piggybacking off the idea to himself.  _ Serves! I should do that too! _

He turned to go back into the gym and noticed Tsukki packing up his gym bag, “Ah! Tsukki!” The blonde glanced up at him and Tadashi smiled then continued, “I’m gonna practice serving some more! What’re you gonna do?”

“Take a bath and go to bed,” he replied blandly, and turned to start towards the housing area.

“O-oh.. are you? Umm..” Tadashi began, but Tsukki cut in pretty quickly.

“What?”

Tadashi scratched his cheek absently, “I was wondering if, um, there was anything you wanted to practice on your own too..”

“We’re already practicing until we drop as a team. Flailing around until you keel over from exhaustion isn’t how you get better.” He said sternly, looking straight at Tadashi.

“Um.. y-yeah..” Tadashi sheepishly scratched the back of his head then looked at the ground, tugging on his wristbands absently, “I guess.. you have a point there.” Then the blonde was off, walking away. Tadashi sighed and ran a hand through his hair, watching him go, then started working on those serves. 

The next day went about the same as the first, full of experimentations with new skills and penalties. Tadashi was hyper-focused on getting the most out of this camp, but he couldn’t help but notice that Tsukki seemed to be lagging behind the others a bit. He had checked in with him and the other claimed to be fine and to just go ahead without him. Even a long chat with Asahi-san during lunch about what it means to improve beyond your scope and what those efforts would reap seemed to hit a firm wall with Tsukki. Tadashi had gleaned from that conversation that it seemed like Tsukki thought Hinata was his competition as a fellow middle blocker and the small guy’s natural talent and drive was too great to deal with. It was starting to seem like he was completely unflappable in all the flurry of others around him gaining valuable experience, however, Tadashi had a hard time imagining that to be true. But it was nagging him, similarly to this sort of low-key thrum that he had felt the entire camp so far. It was all like an itch that just tingled and wouldn’t go away.

He blinked and realized he was spacing out while they rested after their last match. They had run their last penalty lap up the hill, and were now free to do whatever they wished until dinner time. 

“Geez, Tsukishima is looking as unmoved as ever,” Suga-san commented, looking a little concerned towards the guy, who was walking a little ways ahead out of earshot.

“Yeah, it’s so frustrating, isn’t it?!” Tanaka-san added loudly, “I mean, if he just bothered to try, dontcha think he could do more.. more.. I dunno, stuff?!”

“Stuff like what?” Suga-san asked him curiously.

“You know.. stuff!” Tanaka-san answered vaguely, like he really didn’t know the specifics, but was convinced he was onto something big, “arghh! Anyway, it’s such a waste of height!”

Suga-san hummed mildly in response, and Tadashi heard a new voice call out to Tsukki, “hey, four-eyes! You gonna come help me practice spiking again tonight?” Tsukki looked alarmed at being singled out and glanced towards the caller.

“No, thank you. I’ll pass,” Tsukki replied politely, bowing his head to Fukurodani’s captain, Bokuto-san.

“.. really? Uh.. okay, then!” The captain said, then immediately turned on heel and started pestering Kuroo-san, Nekoma’s captain, instead. Tadashi just stared, blankly, at the whole exchange. It was bizarre that his friend didn’t want to have any extra practice blocking, even when asked by one of the top five high school hitters in Japan. Tadashi watched in his stupor as Hinata tailed Tsukishima like a little angry bee, buzzing around in his ear.

“Whoa! What the heck?! When did you get to be friends with Fukurodani’s ace?!” Hinata squawked.

“I’m not,” Tsukki responded in an even tone.

“Why’d you say no?! You totally should’ve! What a waste!” Hinata griped, clearly not bothered by Tsukishima’s nonchalance.

“Quit bugging me. Unlike you, I’m not a bottomless well of stupid energy.” Tsukki snipped back, and upped his pace as he was walking away. 

“Hey!” The small guy yelled, but Tsukki left out the door of the gym. Hinata then turned to Tadashi, looking absolutely livid, “ugh! Who put sand in Tsukishima’s shorts this time?! Fukurodani’s ace personally asked him to practice together, but he said no! Can you believe that?!”

“Ah, so that really was Fukurodani’s ace? That’s so cool!” Tadashi answered Hinata’s rant. Seeing the guy so riled up over this was a little alarming, but he could see why; with everyone else making large strides forward and Tsukki digging in his heels.

“Yeah! Turning him down was such a total waste!” Hinata continued to gripe while snagging a stray volleyball off the ground and tossing it lightly.

“Hey, Hinata,” Tadashi started, wondering if Hinata may have some ideas, since he’d known him to be really insightful at times, “can I ask you something?”

Hinata paused in his movement, and tilted his head in question, so Tadashi continued, “if it was you, what would you say to Tsukki about the way he’s acting now?” 

Hinata paled a little and looked completely lost, which was a little worrying so Tadashi quickly said, “um.. y-you know, like you’ve said stuff to Kageyama and Yachi-san those times..” 

Tadashi was concerned for a moment that Hinata didn’t know what he was talking about as the small guy gazed back at him with a sort of glazed expression across his face, but he snapped out of it a moment later.

“I wouldn’t say anything,” 

Tadashi grimaced and simply looked back at him.

“I don’t know if Tsukishima even  _ wants  _ to play volleyball. It’s not fair to go up to a person who doesn’t want to do something and say ‘let’s do it!’” He said calmly, then his face contorted in frustration, “arrgghhh! And he’s so tall too! If I had his height, there’s so much awesome stuff I could do with it!” 

“I think.. that Tsukki doesn’t hate volleyball, at least,” Tadashi said, reflective, “otherwise he never would’ve come to Karasuno.”

They stared at each other for a few seconds, then Hinata asked, “what about you? What would you say to Tsukishima about the way he’s acting now?”

“Hmm..” Tadashi hummed, and put his hands on his hips, thinking back on Tsukki’s past experiences with volleyball and knowing that it was probably the whole fiasco with his brother that stirred the pot in the first place.  _ But that was years ago, and Tsukki still kept up with volleyball and even went to Karasuno where his brother went too when he didn’t have to.. could you really be hung up on that still?  _

Tadashi peered at the door where the blonde had left the gym, looking like he was headed for the rooms they were staying in, and he decided right then that he needed to say something.

“Zuuuuuuuuukkiiiiiiiii!” He yelled while sprinting out the door, not caring for once about the varied looks of surprise he earned along the way. 

His friend stopped dead in his tracks, more than halfway down the outdoor corridor, and turned to face him, looking completely bewildered. Tadashi caught up to him and bent over, huffing a few breaths after his rough sprint. He peered up at the other and said through his labored breathing, “Tsukki...y-you’ve always been… really smart… and really cool and able to do anything...and I’ve always been jealous of you,”

Tsukki squinted at Tadashi, looking back at him a little haughtily, “and?”

Tadashi grimaced at the sneer, then frowned with his building frustration before he finally blew, “but lately, you’ve been acting really dumb! Hinata could really be a new ‘little giant’ someday, so why don’t you try beating him?! What’s wrong with trying to prove that you’re a better player than him?! You’re taller and smarter and have better instincts for the game anyway! Why do you keep drawing random lines, telling yourself anything past them is impossible?!” 

Tsukki gazed back at him, clearly surprised, then it morphed into a deep scowl and he waited for a beat before saying, “let’s say, for example… that I do work really hard, and become the best player on Karasuno’s team. Then what? Let’s say we even go to nationals and we win. What happens after that? No matter how high you go, there’s always someone better. Even if you work hard and get pretty good, you’ll never be the very best. Never. Somewhere, somehow, you’ll always lose to someone! Everybody knows that.. so where the heck do they find the energy to keep going?!” 

Tadashi gnashed his teeth in his frustration at his unmovable friend, realizing that the guy always gave up because he thought there was no point continuing on and trying hard just to reap no obvious benefits at the end. It was all backwards.  _ How can you not see that this type of struggle will never get you what you want?! What do you want?! Can’t you be happy with the effort it takes to do something successfully even if you don’t believe the end result will amount to much?! So you just quit while you’re ahead? Or quit before it gets too tough?  _

“Who cares about that?!” Tadashi growled out, now fully aggravated, and grabbed the front of Tsukki’s shirt in his fists, yanking him forward and shouted, “what bigger reason do you need, than pride?!” 

Tadashi huffed a few breaths, finally calming down after his verbal explosion, and quickly released his hold on Tsukki’s shirt while the other just stared at him in shock for a moment.

“Geez..” Tsukki muttered, then said while a grin grew on his face, “who would’ve thought this day would ever come?”

Tadashi halted in his tracks and stared back, wide-eyed, completely lost.

“When did you get this cool?” Tsukki said quietly, “I mean it. That was cool.”

“Bwah?!” Tadashi yelped.

“But I still don’t understand it. I’m going to go ask someone,” Tsukki said blandly, then turned and started walking off.

“Tsukki, wait!” Tadashi called, coming back to his senses and his friend paused, looking back over his shoulder in question, “w-what do you want? What are we? Where is this going?”

“We’re friends, Tadashi,” Tsukki replied in a bored sort of tone, then kept walking, leaving Tadashi standing alone in the empty, outdoor corridor. 

He watched as his friend walked away and clenched his teeth shut, unable to do anything but continue to watch him go until he was completely out of sight. His stomach hurt and he grabbed at it lightly, then shuffled around the gym building to the back where the infamous penalty-run-hill materialized. He gazed at its black, jagged, silhouette amongst the darkened sky then backed up against the gym wall and slid down, drawing his legs up to his chest. Holding his knees close to his body, he hid his face in his arms, taking several slow, deep, breaths.  _ Friends, huh? Friends forever, yeah? Just friends. _


	3. KK

Kenma walked outside the gym, escaping a particularly persistent ball of sunshine known as Shouyou. Karasuno’s volleyball team had joined the Fukurodani Group’s training camp that Nekoma also attended, and it was already halfway through. Shouyou had convinced him to set balls to him after practice matches were over for the day and he agreed to just a few. They had reached five before Kenma had fully come to realize that this was a never-ending sort of task and he fled to the quiet outdoors while the other was conveniently distracted by Bokuto.

He glanced around, feeling a gentle warm breeze of the late summer air along with a soft comfortable thrum, and almost took off his track jacket from the warmth of it all. But he was comfortable as the jacket was oversized, draped past his hands a bit, and was definitely Kuroo’s, now that he thought about it. He listened out for cicadas, wondering if it was simply the thrumming energy of summertime, and swished his sleeves a little in the breeze. Small noise and some movement by the gym wall caught his attention. He focused on it through the dark, squinting, realizing someone was sitting against the wall almost balled up and maybe hiding, or escaping. 

It was unusual and he felt oddly drawn to investigate. He wandered over noiselessly and plopped down next to the figure who startled at his sudden presence. The stranger stayed where he was but shifted a bit, shying away and concentrating his attention on the ground as if these particular rocks were really interesting. 

Based on his team track jacket, he was definitely a guy from Karasuno. Kenma recalled seeing Shouyou talking to him quite a bit, and he slowly started to remember that this guy was mainly one of their pinch servers or backup middle blockers. Now that they were sitting closely, comfortably next to each other in the calm, quiet of the evening, Kenma analyzed his appearance. The other was pretty tall, probably almost six feet, with longer, fluffy, olivey-brown hair that kind of stuck up a little in the back. It reminded Kenma of Kuroo’s bizarre bedhead a little bit, but much tamer. The stranger’s face was pleasantly shaped, attractive, and kind-looking with these unique, pretty freckles smattered across his nose and cheekbones. That same face also seemed fairly upset. He wasn’t crying, but he clearly wasn’t happy, and he was definitely hiding. Kenma knew all about hiding, for various reasons, so that much was apparent. 

After finishing his stealthy surveillance, he looked away and up at the dark sky. Despite the weird circumstance, it was easy to just sit and take in the ambiance of the air that was at odds with itself; tranquil and thrumming all at the same time. 

“I-I think I just got dumped.” The guy said quietly, staring straight ahead of himself and frowning, “or.. or friend-zoned? I-I don’t know. I’m realizing that we weren’t really together to begin with.. or something… Um… maybe..?”

Kenma flicked his eyes towards the guy then back up to the sky, remaining silent.

“We’re just friends, then..? Yes. That’s what he said. But what about everything else? I.. uh.. guess.. it was all just a distraction.. maybe.. a loooong distraction.. but all the physical atten- w-what did he mean by that? What kind of distraction is that? H-how did that happen with.. nothing.. more?” The guy continued his hushed, uneasy ramblings using this reserved sort of tone that Kenma was surprised to hear from someone who apparently just had their heart broken. 

He could tell that this guy was really hung up on whoever they were lamenting over, but it was so held back; like it was on a high shelf just out of reach, and yet, every once in a while just low enough to jump and grab it if necessary. Kenma continued to stare up at the sky, thinking of this guy's problems and idly deciding that he was glad he had never felt that way about anyone before. It all sounded like bitter, unrequited love, regardless of the vague tone. However, that tone really bothered him; which made him immediately reconsider and wonder if it really was love after all. He’d played enough video games with wide-ranging stories and characters to know the usual love tropes and archetypes. But he just couldn’t place this one. It was honestly a little intriguing and he decided to just listen.

“Why did it get so comfortable in the first place then..? I’m.. just a distraction.. yeah.. we’re at the same place, but.. we’re not in the same place, yeah. So t-then.. things will stay the s-same. Yes.. that’s what will happen.” 

Then a balmy quiet settled around them, apart from the hushed chirping of crickets and languid buzzing of cicadas that filled the void. Kenma waited, silently, for several minutes then turned to look at the other. He was peering up at the sky, almost squinting, like it would give him answers, with a soft downturn of his lips that didn’t quite match the things he had said. This guy seemed really introspective and his expression undoubtedly read that he had already cycled through a thousand scenarios while he scrutinized the sky. It also appeared like he had landed on a sort of unstable acceptance of his predicament. Kenma was a little impressed by his mental fortitude and stability, being able to come to terms with whatever happened so quietly like that. 

Suddenly, the guy sat up and pivoted around to face Kenma like he just realized he had company. Kenma had been gazing at the guy without thinking about it and they caught each other’s eyes momentarily before the guy stammered, “oh! Umm.. I’m so sorry!.. uh.. please excuse me!”

Then he hopped up off the ground, gave a deep, apologetic bow, and darted towards his team’s room. Kenma blinked, watching him flee, then shrugged and headed back into the gym. 

He hugged close to the wall as he made his way over to the side of the court and plopped down by his gym bag, retrieving his game system. It tinged happily as he turned it on and tuned everything out.

“Kenma! You’re back!” Hinata called out and bounced over, still full of energy somehow. 

“Oh, hi Shouyou,” he replied, glancing up from his game to see the other’s happy face staring back. Shouyou sat down next to him and heaved a huge, energetic sigh like he was tired from practicing, but Kenma didn’t believe it in the slightest. 

“Can I watch ya play for a bit? We’re taking a break!” 

“Uh. Yeah, that’s fine,” Kenma answered, not bothering to take his eyes away from his current level. 

“Kenma,” Kuroo’s voice appeared, but Kenma didn’t answer since he immediately knew what the other was after. It sounded like Kuroo came closer, “hey, that's mine, you know. Can I have it back now?”

“Ehhhh.. but it’s comfortable,” he replied lazily.

“Kitten, you have your own, in your bag.. which you’re leaning on right now…” Kuroo argued lightly. Kenma sighed and paused his game, then shredded the jacket off his body, handing it over to his friend, and glancing up into his face monotonously. The other raised his eyebrows then said, “just order a size too big next time, geez.. I have a hard time getting my stuff back from you? Y’know?” Then he walked away after hearing Bokuto shout his name from across the gym. 

“Kenma! Your tattoo is so cute!” Shouyou abruptly screeched. Kenma startled and looked at his friend who was pointing at his wrist, looking delighted. 

“Oh.. uh, thanks, Shouyou..”

“Have ya met them yet?” He asked, grinning brightly.

“No,” Kenma said, glancing over Shouyou’s body to see if he also had a visible tattoo. Kenma didn’t really think about the soulmate phenomenon very often. He sort of liked the idea of it, since it seemed like it could be taken up like a quest, a grand search for your soulmate. But he felt like it was more an optional side quest rather than something completely necessary to pursue. It was probably an overly challenging side quest anyway since people were involved.

“Aha! Mine’s on my ankle, see?” Shouyou chirped and pulled his sock down, exposing a sky-themed scene with stars, a sun, and a moon. 

“Oh, that’s nice. What about you then?” Kenma asked listlessly, looking back to his face after inspecting the colorful, astral shapes. He saw his friend's expression drop, but hastily return to full-blast sunshine.

“Yeah! I have two, but I’ve only met one. It’s not anything yet, I’m just getting to know them, ya know? Besides, I gotta focus on volleyball! I’m going to be the next ‘little giant’, after all,” He said, looking very determined. Kenma could immediately tell it was a front; this was a sore subject for his friend, and he decided not to push it further.

“Well, your receives and serves are getting much better.. and they’re already better than Lev, so keep it up, Shouyou,” he said instead. Then he refocused on his game, feeling Shouyou beaming at him out of his periphery.


	4. YT

Tadashi loaded himself and his stuff onto the bus along with the rest of Karasuno, bee-lining for the back row that had several seats across. He sat down with a thump next to Tsukki, who had already taken the furthest seat in and was gazing out the window, listening to his headphones while he waited for the bus to leave. They had just finished up their training camp, said their goodbyes, and were heading back home to Miyagi. 

Tsukki glanced over and gave Tadashi a small smile, then refocused on the scenery. Tadashi had been really worried that the other would be able to tell that he was off; but it seemed like Tsukki’s focus was elsewhere like he was constantly finding that window to gaze out of every day. Although, Tadashi would have to admit that his friend’s efforts for the rest of camp had greatly improved. He had practiced every remaining night with others from the Tokyo teams and even asked Coach Ukai for advice on blocking strategies throughout the practice matches. That little bit of extra effort that he finally decided to put in was already paying off. Tadashi knew it would since Tsukki really did have wonderfully innate game sense to go with his tall build. He just knew that Tsukki and volleyball went hand in hand.

It was a little nerve-wracking at first, approaching Tsukki like nothing had happened between them, but Tadashi came to the realization that from Tsukki’s perspective, nothing had happened. Tadashi also decided that the whole thing was probably just himself blowing things out of proportion, like he always did when he got nervous about something. It was hard when the person you trusted to help narrow things back down into reality was the reason things were so out of control. 

Tadashi reflected that he felt bad about spilling his guts to that random Nekoma player the other night. He just rudely used the guy as a sounding board and then took off, without even figuring out his name. But he was almost certain it was their setter, with the stunning, golden, piercing, eyes and the long, blonde-dyed hair. Tadashi was so distracted during that whole experience, that he barely took in the guy, and he certainly didn’t remember exactly what he had said to him either. But he distinctly remembered the other not saying anything and just listening, simply being present. 

“You okay?” Tsukki asked, looking over at Tadashi while holding half of his headphones off an ear, “you’re really on another planet right now..”

“Oh! Yeah, just thinking about.. um.. hair dye,” he answered.

“.. hair dye? Are you going for a new look or something?” Tsukki asked, raising his eyebrows and smirking.

“Ahhaha.. nah..” Tadashi laughed lightly, a feeble attempt at a deflection. 

“Yamaguchi! Can I sit here?” Hinata appeared, and Tadashi turned to see the guy standing in front of him, gesturing to the seat next to him. 

“Oh! Yeah, of course, Hinata,” Tadashi replied, and watched him smile brightly then sit beside him. He could have sworn he heard a low-key scoff from Tsukki, but didn’t look over to check. Hinata snagged some chips from his bag and offered some to Tadashi, who reached out to take one while he asked, “where’s Kageyama? I’m really glad you guys are talking to each other again..”

“He’s sitting up there with Suga-san! Yeah we worked it all ou-“ Hinata suddenly grabbed Tadashi’s arm and dragged him bodily closer to inspect it more closely, “Yamaguchi!”

“W-what? What?! Is there something on me?” Tadashi peered at his own arm in alarm, hoping beyond hope it wasn’t a spider.

“Uh, Yes! This tattoo! Why didn’t you tell me you and Kenma were a match? We could’ve practiced together after the practice games..” Hinata said brightly, but also looking disappointed like a prime opportunity had slipped him by. 

“I’m sorry, Hinata, but what are you talking about?” Tadashi stared at him, clearly having misheard or misunderstood what he was going on about.  _ Matching? Kenma? Wait..  _

“Oh come on, Yamaguchi, it’s so cute! Of course, it’s easily recognizable! It’s exactly the same as Kenma’s, you don’t have to hide it, ya know,” Hinata continued happily, but he released Tadashi’s arm. The latter looked down at his own tattoo of the little, spotted, sleepy cat, which was usually covered by a wristband. He always had two wristbands on, feeling kind of odd just to have the one on while playing sports, and hadn’t put them back on this morning before packing up his things and loading onto the bus. It was usually a well-ingrained habit to slip on his wristbands regardless of what he was wearing, almost like a ritual. 

As it slowly dawned on him what Hinata was saying, all he could do was sit and stare blankly at the other who was chatting away about something, completely unheard by Tadashi. He blinked a few times, trying to tune back into Hinata so he could get confirmation on what he had said.

“-on, and then he told me that he was imagining my face on all those water bottles! Can you believe that? So, so I hollered at him that I wasn’t a moving target, I was a teammate, and ya know, his  _ friend _ , duh! But you know what he said to me?! He said-“

“Hinata..” Tadashi interrupted, “what did you just say..?” 

“He was imagining knocking me over! He said he almost wanted to tape my face to the water bottles so he’d have better aim! Ugh!” Hinata exclaimed hotly.

“No.. no, umm.. before.. uh.. about my tattoo?” Tadashi tried again.

“Oh! I was sayin’ that you should’ve told me about you and Kenma and we all could’ve practiced together. I feel like we really missed a good chance there, ya know? Kenma’s sets are waaaay different than Kageyama’s. Kinda quiet, but still super zippy and perfect! And it makes me just wanna, WHOOSH and BAM! I bet that’s what inspires Lev to hit ‘em with that whip-like motion he uses, like SNAP it over the net, ya know? Oh, oh! That is better, whooooosh and snap!” Hinata replied, smiling back at Tadashi while he spoke. 

Tadashi continued to stare, his mouth falling open slightly. The motion of the bus was starting to make him feel a little nauseous. He asked quietly, “he uh.. he has a cat?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah, ‘course he does! Just like you, silly. Seriously, you okay? You look a little pale..” Hinata said lightly, then leaned a bit closer like he was inspecting him.

“He didn’t know, moron,” Tsukki commented abruptly, headphones on and eyes still tracing the scenery as it flashed by.

“Whaaa… UWAHH!” Hinata shouted, springing out of his seat. 

“Hinata! Quieter, please! And sit down!” Daichi’s voice rang out from the front of the bus. 

Hinata plunked back down and stared into Tadashi’s face like he was checking to see if Tsukishima was lying and the answer would be written across his forehead.

“Hey.. I just uh.. remembered.. he doesn’t know it’s you either.. he mentioned that he didn't know who his soulmate was, now that I’m thinking back on it..” Hinata said, a little hushed and a million times calmer than before. 

Tadashi just maintained his shock, gazing at Hinata vaguely, trying to consolidate all the things that had happened during camp, and organize them in his mind to discover if any clues had simply slipped his notice. His efforts were in vain as it all seemed so random.

“So.. uh.. you should text him!” Hinata piped up, clearly wanting to find some way to rectify the situation.

“T-text him?!” Tadashi yelped, wide-eyed, and brought back into the moment, “and tell him what? ‘Thanks for sitting with me behind the gym that one time I freaked out and blurted all those ridiculous things that I can’t even remember saying anyway?’, oh and that’ll go well with, ‘here’re some dark secrets right off the bat, so let’s get together, yeah?’. What a wonderful start to a new relationship..” Tadashi rambled hotly, agitated. He sucked in a quick breath and realized Hinata was staring at him now, looking wildly confused and even Tsukki was peering over with a curious expression painted across his face.

“Huh?” Hinata said, furrowing his brows, “well.. I was thinking more like, ‘hi, I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi and I’m your soulmate’, but if you wanna go with all that.. you know, he’s kinda.. uh.. not super into people. I wouldn’t say all that right away..” 

Tadashi’s mouth dropped open again and he paled even more, now sinking into an abyss of delayed embarrassment and social failure. There was no way this Kenma guy would even give him the time of day now. He must have looked completely out of his mind, saying who knows what to a stranger, in the dark, behind a seedy gym. 

Tsukki turned to face Tadashi, putting his hands on the other's shoulders to stabilize him in case he tipped over, “hey.. breathe, Tadashi.. in and out, come on.”

Tadashi followed Tsukki’s calm, even voice, and breathed for a beat or two, then three and four, and all the way twenty before Tsukki said, “there you go.. just keep breathing. It’s alright. You can text him, or not text him and everything will still be fine.”

Tadashi nodded along, breathing, and closed his eyes, allowing himself to be saved by his best friend again for the nth time. It reminded him that they were friends. It wasn’t so bad, being a friend. 

“Waaah, Yamaguchi, I’m so sorry! I totally didn’t mean to freak you out with all this!” Hinata said when it was obvious that Tadashi was calm again, “listen.. I’m going to give you his number, and you can do with it what you want, okay? Do-do you want me to tell him for you?”

“Ahh.. it’s alright Hinata, you didn’t know. I didn’t know.. I think.. I’ll talk to him on my own, okay?” Tadashi answered, giving Hinata a meek smile that he hoped didn’t turn into a grimace. He obviously didn’t blame Hinata for anything. It was all just a surprise like suddenly finding something that had been lost for months, but it only popped up once no one was looking for it anymore.


	5. KK

Kenma lounged in his bed, slowly sinking down the fluffed up pillows he was using as a backrest to the point where he was almost completely horizontal. He was concentrating really hard on this particularly challenging boss battle that he’d been aiming to beat for at least a week now. It was frustrating him so much that he nearly looked up a battle guide on the internet, despite hating to resort to that type of win. It was a Sunday evening, and he knew he’d have lots of time to play his game today, with nothing going on and the most recent training camp having just ended. It may be his last good stretch of time to get this boss fight over with before nationals volleyball qualifiers for Tokyo schools began and he knew he’d be too busy again to really devote the time to it. There was no way he’d find himself in another situation where Kuroo would have to sneak in and hide his game system again. That was a nightmare for everyone involved; as in, the whole team.

Almost as if he was the devil himself and summoned by pure imagination, Kuroo suddenly strode into his room and stopped short. He put his hands on his hips and peered around suspiciously, like he knew something was amiss and would soon discover what.

“Kenma! For the love of sweet baby jeebus, will you stop nabbin’ my stuff? You know, I also need to wear clothes..” Kuroo griped, snatching his hoodie off the back of the desk chair.

“Mmhmm, clothes, sure,” Kenma parroted, not really listening in the least to his friend’s menial clothing crisis. He heard Kuroo scoff and his desk chair squeak, like his friend had sat down in it, but he didn’t bother checking. 

A little ping sounded from his phone, which was half-buried under a pillow, and Kenma flicked his eyes to it before tapping away furiously on his system, then hitting pause after a few dropped hit-points. He put his system down in his lap and picked up the phone, mildly curious who would be texting him.  _ Oh it’s probably Shouyou.. _

**_New chat message from Unknown_ **

**_Unknown 4:56PM :_ ** hi, is this Kenma?

**_Applepi 4:56PM :_ ** yes, who’s this?

**_Unknown 4:57PM :_ ** oh! We met at the training camp. Kinda.. this is Yamaguchi Tadashi, from Karasuno. Hinata gave me ur number.. he kinda mentioned to me, well actually.. he basically told me flat out that we’re soulmates. Cuz our tattoos match, I guess.

Kenma stilled, his thumbs hovering over the keyboard on his phone, hesitant. This was a little surprising. Of course, he considered briefly if it was a hoax, but it seemed unlikely that Shouyou would lie. Also, his friend seemed too tactful to play a practical joke about soulmates on someone, especially after the face he made when they spoke of his soulmate before at the camp.

**_Applepi 5:00PM :_ ** I see.. mind sending proof?

**_Unknown 5:01PM :_ ** oh! yea! of course! 1 min

Kenma shrugged and put his phone down. He was just about to pick up his system again when his phone pinged. He squinted at it, picked it back up instead, and opened up the picture sent by this Tadashi guy. The image was, in fact, unnervingly familiar as it was an exact copy of the little tattoo he had on his own wrist, except that the one he was looking at now was definitely on someone else’s wrist.  _ Huh.  _

“Who ya texting with, puddin’ head?” Kuroo asked curiously from his perch on the desk chair. Kenma glanced at him and saw the other had his face buried in his own phone too.

“Soulmate,” Kenma answered, then looked back to his phone, scouring the image intensely one more time.

“Ah, yeah, yeah, cool,” Kuroo responded distractedly, then his eyes shot up from his device to Kenma, “wait, what?”

“Hmm.. just got texted by a guy who said we’re soulmates. Sent a picture too, it checks out,” Kenma answered quietly, then glanced up to see his friend’s face. The other was staring back at him with his mouth blatantly hanging open in shock, and Kenma remarked, “you’ll catch flies like that.”

Kuroo leapt up and pounced onto Kenma’s bed next to him in a quick flurry of gangly limbs. Kenma grimaced and sat up, not wanting to be squashed by his huge best friend. 

“Oya? Soooo, what are you going to do now?” Kuroo purred, looking unabashedly delighted by the sudden drama, “what fun timing, I thought you’d end up having a shot with that cute shortie pie you’re so fond of…”

“Mmnnmmehh.. I dunno. I hadn’t thought about it. I’m not super interested, really,” Kenma grumbled, then added, “besides, I don’t know this guy by name alone.. But I’m kinda curious which one he is now..”

“Wait now, where didja meet this guy? How did he get your number? What’s his name?” Kuroo asked brusquely, like he just realized that he forgot these vital details in his amusement from the audacity of the situation to begin with; his reclusive best friend being texted by a mysterious stranger to be everlasting lovers, like some sort of shojo manga.

“Uhh.. guess he was at the training camp.. on Karasuno’s team? Shouyou told him we matched, gave him my number.. name’s Yamaguchi Tadashi,” Kenma relayed, holding a hand in the air and ticking off his fingers for known facts while he gazed at the ceiling, trying to remember if anyone used his soulmate’s name during a match to put the name to a face. 

“Ah hahaha!” Kuroo cackled, gleefully, “so shortie pie does have his hands in this too!” 

Kenma came up short on the name game and gave up stewing over it. He shrugged and held his hands up in questioning surrender, then picked up his gaming system. He saw Kuroo, out of the corner of his eye, looking rather contemplative with a hand on his chin like he was trying to place the name too.

“Give me a mo’ and I’ll solve it for ya,” he said briskly and snatched up his phone again, typing out a message. Then he apparently finished, gave his phone a little shimmy at Kenma, and waggled his eyebrows. 

Kenma rolled his eyes at his friend and looked down at the game system he was cradling in his hands lightly, still paused, then eyed his phone. He thought back to when his own tattoo appeared on his wrist during the day on his fifteenth birthday. He had been in school and had a sudden urge to look down at his wrist, immediately finding the new tattoo. It was happening like that all over his school though, people suddenly having fresh tattoos on their birthdays. He remembered ignoring it, feeling like it didn’t really concern him at the time, especially since it didn’t match anyone he knew. 

The phone seemed to be quietly taunting him with its presence and he was just deciding whether or not he'd reply back right away when Kuroo’s phone pinged through the stillness. 

Kenma peeked at Kuroo, watching as he peered at his phone screen, then turned it sideways and squinted some more, then he held it out away from his face and glanced back at Kenma, “ahh.. yeah, that’s familiar now. Take a look at this..” he tossed the phone to Kenma, who caught it easily and looked at the screen. It displayed a picture of Karasuno’s volleyball team. Kenma dragged his eyes along the players, picking out the ones he knew, like Shouyou, the captain, the vice-captain, the ace, the scary setter, the tall, snarky middle blocker who Kuroo seemed to have taken a liking to, and a few others. Then he studied the faces of the guys he didn’t know the names of while Kuroo said, “my, uh.. source.. says it’s the tall brunette standing next to Tsukki-kun,”

Kenma immediately relocated that tall, blonde middle blocker, then took in the guy standing next to him.  _ Freckles.. huh.  _

“Kuro, I know your source is Daichi.. you’ve been pestering him non-stop for a week now,” Kenma said, still clutching Kuroo’s phone and staring at the image of the heart-broken guy he’d met that one random, warm evening. 

“Well? Ring any bells? Hit any nails? Strike any targets?” Kuroo said, liltingly, ignoring his statement about the other captain.

“Yeah, we... met,” Kenma said slowly, then took one last look at his soulmate’s kind, smiling face in the picture, and tossed the phone back at Kuroo without warning.

Kuroo grinned and caught it, unperturbed, “so, what are you gonna do about it?”

“Mmmmmnn..” Kenma hummed while he considered everything. He knew the guy just had a bad breakup, maybe. That part was a little unclear. But he couldn’t decide if anything needed to be done, in general, “I guess.. as things stand now.. I'd have to level up first, if Tadashi was the endgame.”

“I’m not so sure this is a game, kitten,” Kuroo said, giving him a small, serious smile.

“Mmnn, you’re right, it’s not.” Kenma responded simply, tilting his head a little at Kuroo for calling him out.

“Haaaaaaahhh,” Kuroo sighed, “well, at the very least, don’t leave him hangin’,”

Kenma nodded slowly, then picked up his phone again, changing around some contact information before looking back at the messages.

**_Freckles 5:02PM :_ ** there ya go

**_Freckles 5:10PM :_ ** did you get it? The lighting was ok, right?

**_Applepi 5:15PM :_ ** yeah, it’s a match

**_Freckles 5:16PM :_ ** so Hinata was right

**_Applepi 5:16PM :_ ** seems so..

Kenma watched his screen for a minute or two, waiting to see if his newfound soulmate would say anything more. After some silence, he lightly tossed his phone back on the bed and picked up his game system, unpausing it with a jab and continued his boss battle. He didn’t miss Kuroo’s curious scrutiny while he tapped away at the buttons. His friend was alternating between spying on him and pouring over something that must have been utterly fascinating on his phone. Kenma got the beast down to about a quarter of its health left before his phone pinged again, and he paused his game immediately, scooping up the device deftly.

**_Freckles 5:32PM :_ ** can we keep texting?

**_Applepi 5:33PM :_ ** yeah, sure

Kenma waited a beat, then went back to his game again. He wondered idly, while he blasted away at the digital monster with his best moves, if Tadashi wasn’t into texting. Maybe he really was as shy as he seemed that one night. Thinking back on the training camp, he didn’t seem to have a problem getting along with his teammates and Kenma definitely remembered seeing him talking with them. It was all an uncertainty, an unknown, a big question mark, slapped down right in front of his face. The ‘intriguing quest’, his mind named and lingered on it. The only thing to do, then, was to ease back, analyze, and strategize.


	6. YT

Tadashi walked along with Yachi-san, Hinata, and Tsukki, all trailing Kageyama who was leading them to his house. It was the first time anyone from the team had gone over and Tadashi wasn’t quite sure how Hinata had convinced the surly guy to agree. It would be a lot easier to study in the comfort of someone’s house instead of outside at a bench and table, or loud, busy cafe, or even a quiet library. It was somewhat difficult to keep Hinata hushed enough for that and they had wasted several afternoons just corralling the guy to keep his voice down before they were kicked out. Tsukki flat out refused to let anyone go to his house for reasons Tadashi couldn’t quite figure out. He went to Tsukki’s all the time and nothing was strange about it. Hinata claimed his sister would be too disruptive and they wouldn’t get anything done, plus it was far, being over the mountain. Tadashi would have offered his house, but his parents didn’t approve of him having friends over while they were at work. No one wanted to impose on Yachi-san, since she was helping tutor the monster duo so they could attend those helpful Tokyo training camps in the first place.

That’s how Tadashi found himself being led into Kageyama’s house. He quietly muttered, “pardon the intrusion,” as he entered. It was modern and very neatly kept from what he could tell.

He took off his shoes like Kageyama had done then said, “thanks for letting us come over, Kageyama.” 

He watched as his grumpy teammate nodded at him, then showed them around the place briefly before he said, “let’s study in the living room so we’ll have more space. Does anyone want a drink?”

Tadashi glanced back at him, a little shocked that he would be so accommodating on top of letting them come over to begin with. A small silence settled around them after Kageyama’s offer until Hinata broke it, “yeah! Thanks, Kageyama! Tea?”

Their surprisingly polite host nodded again then fled towards the kitchen. 

“Let’s get to the living room, then,” Tadashi said quietly, watching Kageyama’s retreating back. They all made their way over and sat down around the coffee table, then settled down, pulling out various study materials. _Wow, his house is totally normal. This is so bizarre.._

Kageyama was back in a flash, gently setting down cups of tea for everyone on the table and gesturing for them to take one if they wanted. Tadashi stared at him for a second, still a bit stunned by his weird hospitality. He had never seen the other do anything so placidly before and it was jarring. 

“Thanks!” Yachi-san had managed to break the tension as she took a cup, while Kageyama just nodded at her curtly.

“Hmmm,” Hinata hummed lightly, glancing around the room, looking curious, then turned back to Kageyama, “it’s really normal, huh?”

Tadashi tried not to laugh, especially considering he had been thinking the same thing. But he couldn’t help the grin from creeping onto his face.

“Hah?!” Kageyama responded, looking at Hinata incredulously, “why wouldn’t it be?!”

It looked like Hinata was really amused by Kageyama’s sudden, normalizing, outburst and he started laughing brightly. Tadashi couldn’t hold back anymore and he laughed too while he heard Tsukki, “probably because nobody’s been to your house before and we all assumed you kept bodies hidden in your walls or something.”

“B-bodies?” Yachi-san whispered and paled, looking aghast at the suggestion. 

“Excuse me?! What are you talking about?!” Kageyama griped and stared back at everyone looking both angry and confused with his hands hovering in the air placatingly towards Yachi-san who was visibly trembling.

“Haha! Don’t mind! It’s a joke. You know, because you’re super scary. So obviously you live in a haunted house.” Hinata grinned widely, clearly unable to control his glee at Kageyama’s sourpuss face. Tadashi snickered some more and hid it behind a hand as he watched as Kageyama glower menacingly at Hinata before taking his phone out of his pocket and looking at it, grumpily. His face didn’t remain sour for long and soon it fell into a sort of a blank, frightened stillness. Tadashi furrowed his brows while he noticed the other gripping his phone so hard his knuckles were changing colors. He tentatively took a step towards his setter, his hands hovering in the air slightly and he spied Hinata approaching too, looking very concerned. 

Hinata reached out and tapped Kageyama’s shoulder, who jerked and stared at him. Hinata looked rightfully spooked and sprang back like he had accidentally touched something too hot, then said very seriously, “hey, are you okay? We don’t really think you’re a serial killer living in a house full of bodies, ya know?”

“Huh?” Kageyama said, sounding completely zoned out and Tadashi stared, wondering what on earth the other had seen on his phone to cause this sort of reaction. 

“Hm, I wouldn’t discount that just yet. He could have poisoned the tea and now realized he drank from the wrong cup.” Tsukishima added blandly, surveying Kageyama briefly from his seat by the table while he flipped through a textbook. Tadashi scowled at the flippant comment, since Kageyama was very obviously terrified. 

Even Hinata shot the blonde an aggravated look before he said, “Tsukki! Are you going to be helpful or not?”

Tadashi just stayed completely still, not wanting to push Kageyama over the edge somehow and he noticed Yachi-san hovering close by with the same sort of concern across her face.

“Oi, your majesty, take a nice, long, deep breath,” Tsukishima suggested calmly from the floor, flipping another page. Tadashi very seriously considered kicking his friend for a moment, but he saw that Kageyama had startled slightly, then started taking slow breaths in and out. Realizing he had been holding his own breath too in anticipation of an explosion, he mimicked Kageyama while he listened to the soft sound of Tsukki flipping through his book. 

“Sorry. Got an unexpected text,” Kageyama said into the quiet of the room. 

“Kageyama, what happened?” Hinata asked, touching his arm again in an obvious attempt to try to help calm the guy down.

Kageyama shook his head and replied grimly, “soulmate stuff. I was just really surprised.”

“That bad, huh? So, it’s out in the open then?” Tsukishima inquired lightly. Tadashi gazed at him for a moment afterwards, frowning. The question was fine, but the tone was a little off-sounding. It was nonchalant, but there seemed to be something else there too and Tadashi couldn’t put his finger on it. 

Kageyama shot Tsukki another glowering look, then said, “Yes. But I haven’t actually talked to him myself yet since Suga told him. He just started a group chat. Last time we talked, it didn’t go so well. I wasn’t expecting anything until after the spring tournament. I was just surprised, it’s fine.”

“Well,” Tsukki said and flipped another page, “if this is your reaction to him from just a text message, it’s probably for the best you talked now rather than at the tournament. I do want to win, you know.” That same weird tone crept back into his diatribe, and it bothered Tadashi that he couldn’t place it. The words came out as his normal snark, but the tone was a little bitter, like slightly burnt caramel.

Apparently, Kageyama didn’t appreciate the tone either because he crossed his arms haughtily and stared at Tsukki like he was about to go off on him. But Yachi-san piped up quickly, “o-oh! That’s lucky! S-sometimes I think it’s easier to talk to certain people over text messaging anyway!”

Tadashi blinked and glanced at Yachi-san, really taking in her words as they immediately reminded him of his own newly discovered soulmate. He had been fighting with himself ever since he texted Kenma on whether or not to talk to him about that night he rambled endlessly about Tsukki. He was horrified when the cold, hard truth sank in that it really was Kenma who had listened silently to his ravings. But he still couldn’t decide if he should bring it up and apologize again. It was possible Yachi-san was onto something though, as he couldn’t imagine talking about his mistakes in person with Kenma.

Kageyama had also looked back to Yachi-san and visibly relaxed, uncrossing his arms, “yeah, maybe. Anyway, let’s study.”

Tadashi frowned and sat back down in front of his papers, lost in his reverie about too many things now, and started working on his homework. It was quiet for a minute or two then he heard Kageyama laugh quietly to himself, “pfft! Haha!”

Tadashi’s eyes darted to him at the light, amused sound, taking in his smiling face, and raised his eyebrows incredulously. _This guy laughs?!_

“Kageyama!” Hinata shouted suddenly, making the setter look up at the others instantly. Everyone had clearly forgotten their work and was openly staring at him. 

“What? If you need help on a problem, don’t ask me, ask Tsukishima.” Kageyama responded gruffly to Hinata, his face returning to the typical frown. 

Hinata ignored him and countered, “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh before.” 

Kageyama just looked back at them in turn, blankly, then held up his phone and said quietly, “Uh.. they’re flirting.. badly...it’s funny.”

Tadashi furrowed his brows at Kageyama, unable to tear his eyes away while Hinata said, “I see...”

“Yeah.. Suga’s being uh... Suga... and Oikawa said he’s going to tattle on him to Iwaizumi,” Kageyama relayed, the amused smile creeping back on his face and he let out another few chuckles, looking back to his phone and muttered, “poor Iwaizumi-san..”

Tadashi’s confusion slowly melted into a smile as he watched Kageyama enjoying himself. It was interesting to witness the other’s soulmates bring out a side of him that Tadashi didn’t even know existed. He continued to smile genially and commented, “you know, I wouldn’t have thought you’d meet your soulmates first out of all of us and already be with them. How is it? Do you like it?”

Kageyama turned to Tadashi and paused, the smile still lingering on his face pleasantly, “Being with Suga is... easy. I like it. Oikawa-san isn’t really with us yet, but I think Suga is pushing for it now. It’s just a bit.. uh.. complicated. Haven’t you met your soulmate, Yamaguchi?” This caught Tadashi by surprise since he didn’t think Kageyama paid attention to soulmates in the least.

“Oh! Uh yeah, I have. But it was after the fact when we realized it and only have spoken through text since. We’re not in that kind of relationship yet.. he’s kind of tricky?” He replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, and coming clean. He decided not to add that he was too embarrassed to text him again. 

“Lucky... I always thought soulmate stuff would be pretty easy, ya know? But it’s really not.” Hinata added quietly, contemplative, but then retorted brightly to Tadashi, “Kenma is not tricky! Just go boldly! Determination! You can do it!” Tadashi could only smile hesitantly back at Hinata’s encouragement and he shrugged, wondering if Hinata would still agree if he knew all the details. Besides, he was the one who told Tadashi that Kenma was not a people-person in the first place. 

“I wish I knew mine, but I guess eventually I’ll figure it out. It sounds nice though. I was so shocked when you first told me about you and Suga-san, Kageyama-kun, but you two seem really close.” Yachi-san timidly put in, fiddling with her fingers.

Kageyama turned his attention to Yachi-san and peered at her for a beat before saying, “Maybe we are.. it’s hard to describe. Honestly, I’m probably not the best person to talk with about this.”

Yachi-san smiled softly and tilted her head in question, but gave a noncommittal nod anyway. Tadashi subtly agreed with her wishy-washy response, seeing as clear as day that Kageyama was actually pretty easy to talk to about these things since his responses were so honest and straightforward. Hinata piped up from his newly relaxed position, leaning on the table with his head in his hands, “it does seem nice. Especially if they make you look like that.” 

“Excuse me?! Look like what?” Kageyama snapped back, looking peeved.

“Nothing! Nevermind!” Hinata squeaked and sat up abruptly, “anyway, what did you get for number.. umm.. five?” 

Tadashi grinned at their antics then went back to his homework finally, happily realizing he only had two problems left. _That smile is really nice, Hinata’s right. Maybe the soulmate thing is more powerful than I thought if it can even affect Kageyama like that.. should I text him, then? I should probably text him._

He pulled out his phone and started up a new message before he lost the nerve.

**_Chat message with Kenma_ **

**_Me 4:34 PM :_ **hi

**_Kenma 4:35 PM :_ **hey

**_Me 4:36 PM :_ ** so I’m just gonna say it.. I’m SO sorry for complaining like that back at camp and then running away.. 

**_Me 4:36 PM :_ **I don’t even remember what I said…….... please forget it

**_Kenma 4:37 PM :_ **sure, if that’s what you want

**_Me 4:37 PM :_ **YES THANKYOU

**_Kenma 4:38PM :_ **no prob. So. 

**_Me 4:38 PM :_ **so?

**_Kenma 4:39 PM :_ ** uh.. how long you been playin volleyball for?

**_Me 4:40 PM :_ **oh! Since elementary school! All the other clubs had these huge scary guys so I went around until I found a club that didn’t

**_Me 4:40 PM :_ **djdhwjkejdkowfhbwjgd why did I say that?!?!?!?!

**_Kenma 4:41PM :_ **hah! You’re kinda funny, Tadashi 

**_Kenma 4:41PM :_ ** I started playin cuz Kuro dragged me into it. So not that much different than you I guess

**_Kenma 4:42PM :_ ** ahh and now I guess I keep playin for a similar reason.. but I don’t hate it. There are tons of huge scary guys who play now tho, why do you still play?

**_Me 4:43PM :_ ** yea, you have a good point. I dunno.. mybe I just got used to it. I’m not that good.

**_Me 4:43 PM :_ ** I MEAN I DONT SUCK GMDJH

**_Me 4:43PM :_ **BUT IM NOT TALENTED

**_Me 4:44PM :_ **OHMYGOD WAIT I MEAN I DONT HAVE THE SAME CRAZY GOOD SKILLS LIKE THE OTHER FIRST YEARS SO IM NOT A REGULAR AHHH

**_Kenma 4:45PM :_ **lol. I’m not a gifted athlete or anything like that either. I’m just planning on playing through high school and then I’ll be done. But I like watching it.. 

**_Me 4:46PM :_ **yeah, I think I’m the same.. it’s exciting to watch. I’ll admit, I even like watching from the sidelines. I know I should want to be out on the court like the others.. but it’s fun to be up close and in it, but without the same pressure of everyone watching you mess up 

**_Kenma 4:47PM :_ **that’s surprising.. aren’t you a pinch server? 

**_Me 4:47PM :_ **haha! Yea…

**_Kenma 4:48PM :_ **kinda the opposite there.. How do you manage that, then?

**_Me 4:49PM :_ ** oh.. um.. focus and reset

**_Kenma 4:50PM :_ **hmmmmmm.. I see 

“Yamaguchi,” Hinata’s voice called out, “can you explain this short story to me again? I just don’t get the part at the end..?”

“Hm?” Tadashi responded, still looking at his phone, “Which one?”

Hinata snickered a bit and Tadashi looked up at him finally, catching the other’s eyes, “that one with the open ending.. I don’t get it,”

“Oh.. yeah, so the protagonist is given that choice, right? And the story leads up to her standing up to face that choice, except the story ends right there before we find out what she chooses, right?” Tadashi recapped the random homework assignment that he had just explained to Hinata only a day or two ago. He paused, waiting patiently to see if Hinata was following and the other nodded, “so, it's up to the reader to guess what she’ll do. It doesn’t specifically say..”

“Yeah, I get that. It’s super frustrating! Why?” Hinata complained.

“Hm. It’s like.. uh.. a personality test! Depending on what you think she does, really shows what you’d do in the same situation. It’s supposed to make you think about how you approach challenging situations to overcome them..” Tadashi explained.

“Huh. Well I think she jumps,” Hinata replied, crossing his arms. Tsukki distinctly scoffed, despite his headphones being firmly placed around his ears. 

“Aha.. I bet you would,” Tadashi commented and smiled softly at his friend. 

“What do you think she’d do? When the question popped up on the practice test, I totally wrote that she jumps… but I lost some points for that,” Hinata said, fiddling with his paper.

“Hmm. Well.. who knows? The correct answer is neither, regardless of how much evidence there is for both choices,” Tadashi answered, “just write something like that and you’ll get it right, ‘mkay?”

Hinata nodded along vaguely, but it looked like he wasn’t really paying attention anymore as he gazed off towards the wall Tsukki was lounging against. Tadashi followed his gaze, however couldn’t quite determine what he was focusing on, but he seemed appeased anyway. Tadashi gave a half-hearted shrug to himself and went back to his last math problem.


	7. KK

Kenma sat with his back up against the cold gym wall, watching a practice match between Shinzen and Fukurodani. It was the last training camp before spring nationals, they had just won their practice match against Ubugawa, and Kenma desperately needed a break. He took a sip of his water bottle and closed his eyes, resting his head back against the wall.  _ Karasuno will be here soon. _

Glancing over to his bag, he swiftly snagged his phone out of one of the outer pockets to check his messages. After that recent afternoon when Tadashi had texted him again, they started a more frequent back and forth with each other, and Kenma was a little surprised to discover how chatty Tadashi could be through texting. He wondered idly if he’d be just as talkative in person and opened his messages.

**_Freckles 8:03AM :_ ** and THEN they walk into the gym all bandaged up! Can you believe it?! Or mybe Hinata told ya already. Anyway, i never would have guessed that he was so.. uh.. scrappy? Tsukki says he wasn’t surprised at all cuz Hinata has little yappy dog energy, whtever that means. So anyway, that’s why they weren’t talking to each other last time.

**_Freckles 8:04AM :_ ** oh! But watch out cuz they’re definitely back at it again. Srsly, how is it even physically possible for them to land that quick so fast? 

**_Freckles 8:05AM :_ ** it totally reminds me of that game, ya know, the one you mentioned a few days ago.. that had that finishing move that’s zippy zappy? Srry, I can’t remember what the move was called.. What do you think? 

**_Freckles 8:05AM :_ ** BUT We’re totally going to win some matches at camp this time! Tsukki and I are perfecting our serve and block, so ya better watch out! 

**_Applepi 9:02AM :_ ** Shouyou mentioned something like that. He didn’t bring up the fistfight tho, that’s weird. Yappy dog hmm? I dunno about that.. their quick is monstrous, inhuman, for sure. Yeah that game was pretty good. I think the move was called zappow strike or something and you could only use it if your character was electrocuted first, like a power up. Shouyou does remind me of that sometimes.. but I think he’s more like a bird. Crow suits him really well, right? Serve and block? You guys working on the ultimate defense? Interesting 

He quickly typed out his message, trying to respond to all of Tadashi’s ideas. It was a little exhausting keeping up with that, but still oddly intriguing and definitely amusing.  _ Tadashi and Hinata are kind of alike in that way, how funny. _

**_Freckles 9:03AM :_ ** did you guys just finish a match? We’re almost there! 

**_Applepi 9:04AM :_ ** yeah, we won. But now I’m tired and sweaty. How long do you think it would take to find me if I just stepped out for some air?

**_Freckles 9:04AM :_ ** haha! What?! I’d bet less than 5 mins. Good luck :)

Kenma snickered to himself at Tadashi’s encouragement. Kenma hadn’t pegged him as an enabler, but it was undoubtedly true. He didn’t seem to mind Kenma’s aloofness towards volleyball and Kenma sort of wondered why that was. Especially since he distinctly remembered Tadashi mentioning his frustration about Tsukishima’s nonchalance and lack of effort. He’d even heard about that from Kuroo as well. But the more he thought about it, the more he was starting to put the pieces together that Tadashi had different expectations for Tsukishima. The whole situation was like a puzzle, and Kenma was keen to solve it. 

While he pondered what the answer was, he glanced around the gym, spying on his teammates. Kuroo was talking with their coach and the others were hyper-focused on the match going on in front of them. It was a perfect opportunity and Kenma stealthily side-stepped along the wall and swiveled his body through the open gym door. He took a deep breath of fresh, outdoor air and strolled over to a bench by some outdoor water fountains. He flopped down and leaned back on his hands, peering up at the cloudy sky. 

Suddenly, he heard a great ruckus coming from the direction of the gated entrance to his school. He peeked over while maintaining his comfortable lounge, and saw a bright orange and black blur sprinting pell-mell into the gym, closely followed by several other energetic looking beings. 

“Pfft!” He laughed.  _ They’re here. _

One of the figures turned abruptly and started heading towards Kenma and he squinted, frowning, trying to see who it was from a distance. As the person came closer, they whipped off their long-sleeved shirt easily and stalked towards the water fountain spout, now shirtless. Kenma raised his eyebrows slightly as they came close to his open-air hiding spot on the bench and he recognized that it was Daichi, Karasuno’s captain. The buff guy stood at the water fountains, angrily scrubbing at his recently shucked off shirt. Kenma peered at him, just starting to wonder what happened when he spied the other’s upper arm and he jolted a little, sitting up quickly to get a better look. His sudden movements caught Daichi’s attention and he turned sharply towards Kenma in surprise like he didn’t realize he had company. But Kenma didn’t flinch at the attention as he was too absorbed in analyzing the captain's soulmate tattoo; which most definitely matched Kuroo’s exactly.  _ Huh. Well that’s interesting.  _

“Haaahhh.. you scared the bejesus outta me, Kozume-kun!” Daichi said, bending forward with his hands on his knees.

“Kenma’s fine..” he replied blandly and glanced towards the shirt instead of Daichi’s very bare torso.

“Ah, alright.” Daichi nodded, then stood up and shook out the dripping shirt, “someone dumped their sports drink on me..”

“Mmn,” Kenma acknowledged, then leaned back on his hands again and looked up at the sky, just to give the other a bit of privacy. He hadn’t talked with the captain before, but now had a sneaking suspicion that would change in the future at some point.

“So, whatcha doin’?” Daichi asked lightly, wringing out the shirt once more.

“Oh.. um.. fresh.. air?” Kenma replied, glancing at the other as he put on the now damp shirt, stain successfully removed. 

Daichi looked around them curiously, then said, “ah.. well, enjoy. See ya in there,” then he smiled genially at Kenma and walked off towards the gym entrance.  _ Ah, I was caught already.. now I definitely have less than five minutes. _

As expected, not even a full minute later, Kenma heard Kuroo’s voice calling out to him from the gym entrance and he spied his friend gesturing somewhat frantically to come back inside. Kenma sighed and headed back, reaching Kuroo in the doorway. He peered inside and saw Karasuno warming up. 

“Get a nice little break?” Kuroo asked, smirking. 

Kenma grimaced back at him, “did Daichi tell you, or did you guess?”

“Hahahaha!” Kuroo cackled, then gently guided Kenma over the threshold and into the gym’s stuffy air, “come on, we’re up against Shinzen now.”

The day passed pretty quickly despite all the hard physical work and Kenma had snuck a few glances at Tadashi throughout the matches, but everyone was too busy to socialize. Kenma couldn’t decide if he was grateful for that or not. He didn’t want to talk to people, but he wouldn’t really mind it if it were Shouyou or Tadashi. It was perplexing to him how he was able to get along so easily or be so willing to try; and he was starting to deliberate with himself if it was simply the soulmate bond driving all of it forward.

Kenma walked into the small cafeteria and was drawn out from his reverie by Shouyou’s bright voice, “Kenma! Come sit with us!”

He turned his attention to him, tucking some of his long hair behind an ear and nodded. Then he shuffled over and sat down next to Shouyou, who was already seated next to Kageyama. He glanced along the table and realized that Tadashi sat directly across from him, and Tsukishima next to him, then a few other second years who he didn’t know. Catching his eyes briefly, Tadashi gave him a timid smile that said ‘hello’, then looked away like he didn’t want to be accused of staring.  _ Shouyou.. is this a set-up?  _

“Ahhh mannn, Kenmaaaa..” Shouyou whined a bit, really drawing out his words. Kenma blinked and turned to him in question then the other continued, “I can’t believe we still can’t beat you guys! Not one single set! But we’re gonna getcha in nationals for sure!”

Kenma nodded slowly, corners of his mouth lifting slightly at Shouyou because of his plucky determination. Kageyama suddenly appeared from around the other side of him, leaning bodily over the table to look at Kenma, “hey, how do you pull off the glance thing every time like that?”  _ Glance thing.. the misdirection play? _

Kenma raised his eyebrows slightly and tilted his head, “mmn.. don’t move so much,”

Kageyama’s face flashed from confusion to sincere contemplation and he sat back in his seat, staring off at his plate like he was actually deciphering the advice. Kenma wondered if he actually got this gist of what he meant or not. 

“Uuwah! Will you teach me that too, Kenma?” Shouyou asked excitedly.

“Oh. Not sure I can, Shouyou. I think for you, you’d have to do the complete opposite and never stop moving for it to work..” he relayed quietly, squirming a little in his seat as he felt all of their eyes on him while he spoke to Shouyou. His friend nodded along as Kageyama had, but Kenma could tell that this time his advice went in one ear and out the other. 

“Dumbass, you need to worry more about working on your crappy serve than trying to learn setter misdirections..” Kageyama commented scathingly. 

“Hey! Rude! My serves are getting better each day! They may not be a fancy, powerful jump serve like yours or Yamaguchi’s, but at least I can aim ‘em now!” Shouyou argued back, “besides, don’t just pick on me! Tsukki has crap serves too!”

“Excuse me?” Tsukishima said quietly, sneering down at Shouyou, and Kenma’s eyes widened slightly as he shifted his gaze between them. The air suddenly felt thick with tension.

“You heard me, ya salty French fry!” Shouyou exclaimed. He sounded brave but looked much less so. Kenma wondered why the guy was picking a fight with his teammate in the first place, it was a little unusual. Kenma wanted to leave but he slowly shifted his gaze back to Tsukishima where he saw him glaring death-rays across the table; It looked like he was just about to say something too, his mouth drifting open ever so slightly.

“Ahahaha.. okay guys..” Tadashi put in, laughing nervously with a nearly convincing, easy smile plastered on his face, “l-let’s just agree that you both suck at serving, but are really good at other things.. like.. uh.. Hinata, you’re great at wide slide-shots! And Tsukki, you’re great at directing spikers to hit the ball where you want them to.. o-okay?”

“Aww thanks, Yamaguchi!” Shouyou chirped, clearly distracted. Tsukishima still looked livid, but he scoffed and went back to picking at his food. Kenma peeked back at Tadashi again, seeing the other visibly relax like he knew the crisis was diverted successfully.  _ Impressive. _

Shouyou grinned suddenly and elbowed Kageyama, hard, in the side. The other setter basically growled out ‘what’ at him but Shouyou was already talking, “anyway! We’re gonna go work on those new quicks! Kenma, you wanna practice? No? Okay, see ya! By the way Tsukki, I know Bokuto-san was looking for you again!”

Then he practically flew out of his seat with his dinner tray, all but dragging a very disgruntled looking Kageyama behind him, and they were gone. Tsukishima watched them leave as well, then sighed and got up to leave, “later.”  _ Yep. A set-up. Not really that smooth though.. I wonder if Tadashi was in on it too or if he’s just going long for the ride like I am.. based on that conversation, I’m going to saaayyy.. going along for the ride. _

He checked in on Tadashi after a beat of watching his retreating dinner companions, and his soulmate looked outright confused, a puzzled look splashed across his face like he couldn’t figure why his friends would be so bizarre. 

Kenma looked down at his sparsely picked at dinner and thought that I’d probably be enough before saying, “Um.. I’m done. Were you going to go work on serves again?”

Tadashi snapped his attention to him and said, “uh.. y-yeah.. I need to.. do that.. wanna come watch, maybe?”

“Sure,”

“Okay!” Tadashi sprang up from his seat and gathered up his and Kenma’s trays to return them to the receptacle, “I’ll uh, take this for you?”

“Thanks,” 

Tadashi flashed a quick smile, then delivered the trays, was back in a blink, and they made their way to one of the practice gyms. Once inside, Kenma found his way to a comfortable looking wall to lean against while he watched as Tadashi gave a nervous, little wave at him from across the court and picked up a ball to serve. There were a few others in the gym too, but Kenma had a hard time focusing on anyone except for Tadashi at the moment. The latter ran and jumped into the air, a little clumsily, but smacked the ball with absolutely no spin. It sailed across the net like it was floating then made a nasty swerve and dropped abruptly to the court, right inbounds.  _ Ahh.. that’s a really annoying jump float serve.. impressive. _

Kenma didn’t really know what to do, or if Tadashi would want feedback or anything for that matter, so he gave the other a meek thumbs up. Tadashi smiled back, but was definitely anxious, then went to grab another ball. This time, his serve was directed towards the other end of the court. The ball floated over lazily, but at the last second, Karasuno’s loud libero jumped in and bumped it easily. Kenma saw Tadashi’s shoulders droop like he was disappointed his serve was caught without a struggle. 

“Nice one, Yamaguchi-kun! That was actually really hard to receive!” The libero called out and Tadashi perked back up, grinning at his teammate.  _ Hachiko.. Angelo.. Dogmeat.. _

Kenma watched as his soulmate picked up another ball to continue practicing, and he sighed. He didn’t mind spending time hanging around in the gym, but he was definitely too tired to practice anything extra himself. Deciding that now was as good a time as any, he took out his gaming system from his track jacket pocket and turned it on.

He felt Tadashi approach about fifteen minutes later and hesitantly sit next to him on the gym floor, breathing a little hard from his physical exertion, “can I watch you play?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kenma flicked his eyes up to him for a moment before refocusing on his game. 

It was peaceful, calm, sitting there with the light pings and tinkling music of his fantasy game paired with Tadashi’s gradually evening-out breaths softly filling their shared space. A little time passed just like that until Kenma felt a gentle snag of his hair and he shifted his eyes to Tadashi, not bothering to pause his game and just kept tapping the buttons blindly. 

Tadashi looked completely zoned out, peering at some of Kenma’s hair that was lightly held in one of his hands while he was pitched forward a bit. Kenma watched out of his periphery as Tadashi slowly let the strands cascade out of his grasp while he whispered, “..dye..?”

At this distance, with Tadashi so close, Kenma couldn’t help but take in the other’s features more clearly than before. Tadashi’s eyes were acutely focused on the motion of the hair sweeping downward, but Kenma only zoned in on the pretty green flecks of color swimming in the gray-hazel. Then his hair was hanging loosely around his face again and Tadashi was suddenly obscured. Kenma lifted a hand and swiped some of it back behind his ear, saying in a hushed tone, “because I didn’t wanna get noticed like Sadako.” 

Tadashi startled at his words, and sat back abruptly, obviously realizing he had encroached on Kenma’s personal space without warning, “a-ah.. I s-see..you’re nothing like.. sa-sadako.”

Kenma tilted his head slightly at Tadashi, then brought his attention back to his game. He saw that he was nearly at the next stage and had made some progress even though he hadn’t been paying attention for the last few minutes.  _ I feel like I need to level up. _


	8. YT

Tadashi landed lightly back down on the gym floor after jumping and smacking a volleyball across the net. It was barely received by Noya-san, who gave him a happy, double thumbs-up while his arms were outstretched above his head. Tadashi smiled at him and went to get another ball. He was helping Noya-san work on his overhand receives since the latter generally disliked using them. But it was a good way to shake off some of his nerves before their first match of the spring nationals. They were warming up in a local gym down the street from the stadium until the court was ready for their match against a school called Tsubakihara.

“Okay! It’s time we get going!” Coach Ukai announced, holding his phone by his ear, “the games are moving at a faster pace than we expected.”

“Yes, Coach!” Sawamura-san answered and some of his other teammates called out in acknowledgment too. Tadashi blew out a nervous sigh, then walked along with his team to the train station. They’d take the train back to the sports complex for their match, and the place was packed with people. 

“Man, it’s like every station is crammed to the gills..” Tanaka-san said, looking around the bustling space. Tadashi listened half-interestedly as his teammates talked about why it could be so busy, then Tanaka said, “how long do we have until the train comes?”

“Four minutes,” Ennoshita-san replied, checking his watch.

“Bathroom break!” Tanaka-san declared and took off.

Hinata started following him, “ah! I’ll go too!”

“I’ll watch your stuff,” Tadashi offered, he was already standing with a bunch of their stuff anyway. A few extra bags wouldn’t make a huge difference.

“Thanks!” Hinata said and quickly set his stuff down by Tadashi before bolting towards the bathroom. 

“Oooh, someone’s gonna miss the train!” Tsukki called out after Hinata, who looked over his shoulder, peeved, and shouted something that sounded like ‘shuddup!’ Tadashi raised his eyebrows and watched him disappear around the corner. 

“You first years have a lot of stuff.. lemme carry some,” Narita-san suddenly commented from behind, startling Tadashi. He turned around and threw up his hands placatingly, not wanting to inconvenience his teammate. Admittedly, they did have a lot of bags for some unfathomable reason. 

“No, that’s okay!” Tadashi responded quickly.

“If I’m not doing something, my nerves will eat me alive…” he said calmly while picking up one of the extra bags.

“O-oh, thank you,” Tadashi conceded, then turned back around, seeing that everything else was still there. 

Tanaka-san and Hinata reappeared only half a minute later and they all started off towards the train, which had also just arrived and slowed to a stop. Tadashi grinned as he watched Hinata giving Tsukki a very smug look while they boarded. 

“Will you please stop staring at me like simply boarding a train is a cause for celebration?” The blonde complained. 

They arrived at the gym in no time and Sawamura-san directed everyone to the area by the court where they could put their stuff during the game. Tadashi put down his bag along with everyone else, then rummaged through it for a moment and pulled out his volleyball shoes and numbered jersey.

“Wait a sec..” Hinata said, sounding confused, “this… this isn’t my bag!” 

Tadashi quickly looked over while Tanaka-san asked, “forget something?”

“No.. I didn’t pack any of this.. this bag looks like mine, but it isn’t?!” Hinata said, his voice rising as if his panic was swelling up like a balloon, “I don’t have my shoes!”

Takeda-sensei came over a little closer, followed by Yachi-san, and he said, “Then someone accidentally switched bags with you somewhere?”

“I think so!” Hinata squeaked.

“It’s that checkered one, right? I think it’s one sold by a popular children’s clothing store chain. A lot of people probably have it..” Yachi-san added, starting to look frantic as well. 

“It’s my little sister’s! It was sturdy and just the right size, so I..” Hinata mumbled nervously, more so to himself.

“I knew it..” Tadashi commented quietly, feeling the weight of the situation bearing down on him as it was most definitely his fault, “when Hinata went to the bathroom, I took my eyes off his stuff for just a second. It had to have been then..” he buried his hands in his own hair, completely stressed by causing this problem and apologized shrilly, “I’m so sorry!”

Hinata mimicked his actions in his own apparent panic and squawked, “it’s not your fault Yamaguchi!”

“Stay calm. No panicking,” Takeda-sensei said, and pulled out his phone, “I’ll check with the station.”

“Can we go and buy another pair for him?” Ennoshita-san asked calmly.

“If it comes down to that,” Sawamura-san answered, also completely calm.

“Sorry!” Hinata and Tadashi yelped at the same time, not calm in the slightest. 

“It’s okay, it’s okay! Geez! It’s not like anyone’s dying,” Suga-san said, smiling genially at them, with a hint of strain like he thought the whole situation was a bit ridiculous.

“Where’s your phone?” Kageyama asked casually, suddenly appearing behind Hinata and crunching an empty snack wrapper in his hand. Hinata briskly started patting down his own body like his clothes had thousands of hidden pockets and his phone would be stashed away somewhere.

He stopped abruptly and proclaimed, “in my bag! Nice one, Kageyama!”

Tadashi quickly snatched his own phone out of his pocket and dialed Hinata’s number, waiting and desperately hoping someone would pick up. 

A woman’s voice came through, “ _hello?”_

“They answered!” Tadashi said to Hinata while holding his phone away from his face slightly, then said into it, “um, hello! This is my friend's phone, do you have the bag too?”

“ _Ah yes! I think my son must have picked up the wrong bag..”_

“Oh! Yes, we have the other bag, yellow and checkered?” Tadashi replied, anxiously.

“ _Yes! They must be the same! We’re still at the station. We can wait here for you and exchange?”_

“Y-yes, please! Thank you!” Tadashi said quickly, “someone will be there with your bag shortly, thank you!” Then he hung up and relayed the details to Takeda-sensei. Shimizu-san then offered to go switch out the bags, since the volleyball court just opened up and they needed to warm up and adjust to the gym before their match. It was really considerate of her to do so, even though it was such a hassle. Tadashi just watched in his anxiety-laden stupor as Yachi-san argued with her about going by herself or something. He was having a hard time focusing on those small details at the moment, being hung up on the fact that their warm-ups were now derailed too.

“I’ll be back before the game starts,” she said mildly, turning to leave.

“Sorry!” Hinata and Tadashi yelled in unison, again. 

“Thanks, Shimizu,” Sawamura-san said kindly, then looked towards the court. The players from the previous game had vacated and it was waiting for them now.

The upperclassmen continued to chit chat about their manager’s safety while Sawamura-san herded them along to the court. Tadashi realized he was still grasping his phone, having forgotten to put it back in his pocket and he saw a new message. He opened it, unable to resist the distraction while he was being guided along with the others.

**_Chat message with Kenma_ **

**_Kenma 8:04AM :_ **hey, good luck today. Win your games so we can meet on the court for our ultimate trash heap battle, cats vs crows, yeah?

Tadashi smiled to himself, a little less stressed after seeing a nice message from Kenma. His soulmate was always very responsive through text. It hadn’t escaped Tadashi’s notice that the latter would nearly always respond back to whatever Tadashi said, no matter how rambled or incoherent it was. He was a good listener, Tadashi had decided, despite how uninterested or avoidant he seemed in person. Tadashi glanced at his own wristband for a moment, then messed with his contact information on a whim before responding.

**_Me 10:23AM :_ **thanks! You too! Trash heap battle, huh? That sounds familiar! Did ur coach mention that too? It sounds epic.

 **_Me 10:23AM :_ **man.. I hope we can make it.. we’ve already had an adventure just this morning.. so let’s hope for smooth sailing from now on…

 **_Kenmacat 10:24AM :_ **hm? adventure? Did you guys finally see the Tokyo tower? What happened?

 **_Me 10:25AM :_ **uh.. i accidentally lost track of Hinata’s bags for a second while he was in the bathroom at the train station and then when we got to the gym he realized that he didn’t have the right bag cuz it got switched somehow in the two seconds i wasn’t watching it but luckily his phone was in there too so I called it and they picked up and Shimizu-san just ran out to get Hinata’s real bag back and it’s a huge mess and I can’t believe i caused all that trouble and now he won’t have time to warm up probably cuz his shoes were also in the bag and now he doesn’t have shoes so he can’t warm up! 

**_Me 10:25AM :_ **yea we saw the tower too

 **_Kenmacat 10:26AM :_ **Ah.. well it sounds like you’ve already fixed the problem then, right? He’ll get his bag back.. Shouyou’s really athletic, it’ll probably be fine

Tadashi was about to reply when he felt a light nudge from someone bumping his shoulder. He glanced over and saw that it was Tsukki and the latter gave him a pointed look then tipped his head towards some of his other teammates who were starting to move towards Coach because he was beckoning them over casually.

“Alright, listen up!” Coach Ukai called out to them and they gathered around closer, “I want all of you to warm up more than usual. Work up a sweat! The floor here isn’t the wooden gym floors you’re used to. It’s designed to be non-slip. Dive on this stuff like you would those slick wood floors and you’ll hurt yourselves! Work up a good sweat to decrease some of that friction!” 

Then they were off, following Coach’s instructions. The first thing Tadashi knew he needed to do was to find something to use as a reset point for when he was up to serve. He had learned the special jump float serve from a former teammate of Coach Ukai’s. Tadashi had politely pestered the Karasuno alum to teach it to him after seeing him perform the serve in a practice match at the very beginning of the year. After a bit of convincing, the guy had taught him the serve plus a handful of other useful techniques. He had shown Tadashi how to time his serve with the referee’s whistle; as well as find a reset point to focus on so he wouldn’t get caught up in all the confusion of a large gymnasium and panic when he was up to serve. 

Tadashi glanced around and found a particularly eye-catching exit sign. He decided on that being good enough, then lined up with the others to run through some spiking drills while Suga-san and Kageyama set, and he noticed Hinata springing around without his shoes on. Warm-up time was pretty short, maybe fifteen minutes, and he knew the other couldn’t possibly hit spikes the same way while barefoot. However, it looked like Hinata had found a solution to working up a sweat and he was dashing around, acting as some sort of hyped-up ball-boy in the meantime while he waited on his shoes. Tadashi watched him out of the corner of his eye anxiously, hoping the shoe incident wouldn’t diminish his play too much. 

Shimizu appeared what felt like moments later, and tossed Hinata’s bag down from the stands. Yachi-san caught it and Tadashi went over to double-check that everything was back to normal. Their fresh manager gave Hinata his bag and he plopped down on the floor, digging through it and pulling out some socks and his shoes.

“Yesss,” he hissed to himself and fiddled with a sock.

“Oh man, I’m so glad you have those back.. I’m so sorry, Hinata!” Tadashi apologized, sitting down next to him for a moment.

“It’s really okay!” Hinata chirped brightly and went to put on his other sock. Tadashi spied something on his ankle and he stared. It was a soulmate tattoo. An exceedingly familiar one that he’d seen hundreds of times at Tsukki’s house, lounging around after school or on the weekends. 

Tadashi paled and muttered, wide-eyed at this revelation, “H-Hinata…” 

“Hm?” The other hummed while finishing tugging up the sock, then he followed Tadashi’s transfixed gaze and froze. They both gaped at each other, like two deer caught in headlights at the same time, on the same road.

“P-please.. T-Tadashi.. don’t.. don’t say anything,” Hinata whispered, looking white as a sheet. Tadashi’s mouth drifted open dumbly in his shock and he couldn’t bring himself to say anything anyway. Hinata pulled on his shoes and continued then, like he thought Tadashi was waiting on an explanation, “I just.. he.. he doesn’t know. He.. he wouldn’t be happy. He wouldn’t be happy it’s me..”

The last part shook Tadashi from his stupor and he sucked in a breath, then let it out, trying to stabilize his racing mind. The whistle sounded, signaling the end of warm-ups and Hinata jolted at the noise, looking around in panic again, then his eyes darted back to Tadashi. He flinched at the sudden, intense expression on his friend’s face and he covered his own mouth with his hands and shook his head vehemently, unable to say anything aloud at the moment. Hinata kept his gaze on him for a beat or two longer, maybe deciding if Tadashi would keep his silent promise or not, then frowned, nodded, and walked away. Tadashi just stared after him, seeing him doing some jumps in his newly acquired shoes and exclaiming something like ‘I feel like I can jump even higher now!’, like he had flicked a reset button and was free of the previous moment; however, Tadashi was still firmly glued to the floor. _But.. I think Tsukki knows.. he most definitely knows.._

Only a second later, Suga-san approached and asked, “Yamaguchi-kun, are you okay? We gotta go line up and all that.”

“Ah! Okay!” He managed to get out, then he dragged himself up and followed Suga-san, trying his best to shake off the past few minutes.

It turned out to be harder than he thought, to just shake away that discovery. He stood in the sidelines box along with some of his teammates as their game began, but all he could think about were little corresponding suns and moons and stars on well-covered ankles. He knew that Tsukki was aware of Hinata being his match, despite his best friend not directly confirming it ever. But Hinata clearly thought the other had no clue. All of Tsukki’s snide commentary and refusal to talk about the soulmate bond suddenly started spinning through his mind like some sort of dizzying picture show. Tadashi wondered how Tsukki really felt about the whole situation, or if he even knew that Hinata knew as well and was also evading. _Is this why you pulled back on whatever we were doing? Do you like Hinata, then? Are you ever going to tell Hinata you’re his match? But you never talked about the bond! Why didn’t you just talk to me about it?! This is far beyond being stubborn, Tsukishima Kei! And simple avoidance would be an understatement of the century! What are you doing?!_

“Yamaguchi, come here a sec.” Coach’s voice rang out to him, startling him slightly.

Tadashi blinked and moved over to Coach, “yes, Coach?”

“Listen, you could probably already tell, but the gym's high ceiling and lights are messing with Kageyama’s spatial awareness. He needs time to adjust to them, so I’m sending you in to serve for Hinata when he rotates to the back, okay? Score some points, knock our opponents off-balance!” Coach Ukai said, and Tadashi tuned back into the game, realizing that they were nearly halfway through the set already and behind by several points. He immediately felt disheartened that he had barely paid any attention at all. 

He resolved to make up for it and steeled himself before switching places with Hinata, getting into position to serve. _Okay, I bet I’ll only play on the court when I’m needed to serve, so I better concentrate. I spent all that time working with Shimada-san learning this jump float serve for this very reason, and I can’t let nerves get to me now. I just need to do what Shimada-san said and find my spot to focus on, calm down, and reset._

He found it easily, as exit signs didn’t tend to move, and he focused, cleared his mind of everything else, reset. The whistle sounded loudly for him to serve. He concentrated on his newly thought up goal of aiming for the opponents’ ace, number four, found the perfect spot along the white edge of the net, then tossed the ball up. He chased after it, jumping into the air, and smacked it carefully, ensuring that the ball had absolutely no spin. It quickly zoomed through the air in a wavering, floaty motion and veered right at their libero. Tadashi winced, momentarily thinking that they’d bump it easily, but the opposing players got in each other’s way at the last second like they were wishy-washy on who should go after the ball. They barely managed to get the ball in the air and to one of their hitters, but it was in vain as Asahi-san, Tsukki, and Sawamura-san blocked their spike. Karasuno scored, and Tadashi breathed out, “yeah!”

He followed the same routine and sent the next ball quickly sailing over the net, directly towards their ace. The guy put his arms up in anticipation to catch the ball overhanded, but it swerved unsteadily and he missed. It thumped lightly on the court right behind him and Tadashi exclaimed, “yeeaaah!” in his exhilaration at scoring a service ace. 

Then he was up to serve for the third time and heard the whistle. He took a breath and focused, then tossed the ball, ran after it, jumped, and smacked it across just like before. The other team got under it though and spiked the ball past Tsukki for a point. Tadashi heaved a small huff and saw Hinata waiting for him with his number on the side of the court. He smiled and switched places, passing by Coach who gave him a hearty thumbs-up. It turned out to be a really good serving session as he closed the score gap by two points, and his fellow teammates seemed pumped up now. He suddenly realized that’s why Coach sent him into the game so early in the first place. Since he hadn’t been paying attention beforehand, he completely missed the fact that his teammates were floundering quite a bit while they waited for Kageyama to adjust to his new surroundings. 

The game continued and Tadashi felt like he literally witnessed everything click into place for Kageyama after he sent a quick set to Tsukki. Immediately following that, he served the ball so hard to the opposing side of the net that it ricocheted off their opponent's arms and went flying back to Karasuno’s side of the court. Noya-san easily bumped it to the front of the court like he knew, from months of previous practice, that their setter would get to it in time despite just serving the ball in the first place. Kageyama wasted no movements, and sprinted into the setters position, setting the ball to Hinata, who was already frozen, midair and smashed the ball down for a point. The whole exchange was so quick and perfect that the people in the stands exploded in surprise, shouting and cheering.

Tadashi grinned, seeing his teammates exhilarated faces and glee-filled high-fives since everyone knew this was the turning point now. They were still behind, but there was an unsaid agreement that they’d take the set. He spied Hinata bouncing around on the balls of his feet in the commotion, looking wildly elated after finally landing a freak-quick attack. As he watched his teammate, the corners of his mouth drifted down in serious contemplation, and he wondered why Hinata wanted to keep such a big, bubbling secret. Tadashi knew there was no chance of it not boiling over eventually. _But why doesn’t Hinata want Tsukki to know? He said he didn’t think Tsukki would be happy.. but you don’t know that unless you put forward the effort to find out. He can’t possibly just assume Tsukki’s true opinions or feelings solely based on the things he says.. that just won’t get him anywhere with this.. Tsukki won’t even talk to me about soulmate stuff, he’s definitely not going to just express his true feelings through everyday conversation.. but.. I don’t think Tsukki knows that Hinata figured it out too. He hates that sort of mutual unacknowledged pressure. So then, they both think the other is in the dark, and are avoiding everything? I wonder if Hinata would talk to me about it some more.. how did I suddenly get stuck in the middle of this?!_

Tadashi blinked and realized that he had been completely spacing out again, thinking about things that he really shouldn’t be worrying about, and had totally missed the end of the set. Karasuno won, and he saw, belatedly, that it was because the opposing team brought in an unknown pinch server who obviously flubbed up.

The second set progressed quickly, with Karasuno taking the lead until that pinch server came back onto the court. Tadashi had never seen a ceiling serve before, but with the ball soaring high up into the domed gymnasium, getting lost amongst the blinding lights, it was no wonder his teammates had a hard time receiving it. They were able to stop his run by the fourth serve, but now they had to fight to get those points back. The set see-sawed back and forth all the way up until Karasuno was at match point. But it was decided pretty quickly with Hinata running around the court acting as a decoy while Kageyama tossed the ball to Asahi-san for a powerful back-row attack, scoring the winning point. They had won their first match at spring nationals and were now one game closer to the top. 

After lining up and thanking the other team for the game, Coach released them to take a break, eat lunch, and watch some of the other matches taking place in the complex. Tadashi decided to follow Hinata into the lobby to get some space from Tsukki. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to keep his cool if they weren’t distracted by volleyball and he needed some time to school his emotions into something resembling normalcy. He rested back against a pillar in the lobby, while Hinata looked at some t-shirt merchandise, and pulled out his phone.

**_Chat message with Kenma_ **

**_Me 12:07PM :_ **hey Kenma.. what would you do if

 **_Me 12:07PM :_ ** if you found out a huge secret, but were asked not to say anything?

 **_Me 12:08PM :_ **ahh.. that sounds dumb and obvious.. lemme try again???

 **_Kenmacat 12:09PM :_ ** I’m listening

 **_Me 12:10PM :_ **I uh.. I found out something about a friend.. but it also has to do with another person. And.. this

 **_Me 12:10PM :_ **wow. this is way harder to explain than I thought, I’m sorry. Idk

 **_Kenmacat 12:11PM :_ **so, instead of trying to explain it, tell me your dilemma?

 **_Me 12:12PM :_ **ah..yea, I’ll try that. I can’t figure out if I’ll be able to keep this secret in general. If I tell, it could either burn up, or meld things. If I don’t tell, I think things will just.. stew

 **_Kenmacat 12:13PM :_ **stew? That just sounds like a slower version of burn up or meld..?

 **_Me 12:13PM :_ **exactly. So.. it’s comin down to this.. is this a ‘present me’ problem, or a ‘future me’ problem? And how much grief is it going to cause along the way? I’m almost ready to make a pros and cons list….

 **_Kenmacat 12:14PM :_ **I see.. that does sound tricky. Hmmmmmmmmm

 **_Kenmacat 12:15PM :_ **so.. another approach..is what you could gain from telling the secret greater than the integrity of keeping it? 

**_Me 12:16PM :_ **right? That’s the next dilemma. It’s basically a dual secret on both sides now. Either way a disservice is happening to both people. I’m stuck in the middle of it >:(

 **_Kenmacat 12:17PM :_ **ouch. That’s sticky.. kinda seems like your best option is to say nothing then

 **_Me 12:17PM :_ ** mhmm i just realized that too. I guess.. stuck or not.. they’ll just have to figure it out on their own when they want to anyway. Well, it helped to talk it out.. 

**_Me 12:18PM :_ **thanks Kenma. OH GOOD LUCK WITH UR MATCH!!!!!!! 

**_Kenmacat 12:19PM :_ **haha! Thanks Tadashi, good job on yours. I saw you serving

 **_Me 12:20PM :_ **you did?!? Ahhhhhhh! Well, win ur matches and you can see it from across the net 

**_Kenmacat 12:21PM :_ **that’s the plan. I’m going to defeat the crows. ultimate boss battle

 **_Me 12:22PM :_ **oh yea? You wanna test out all our upgrades I bet! Good luck :)

Tadashi waited a minute or two, then pocketed his phone. Nekoma’s next match or warm-ups must have started. He really did want to have a chance to play in the battle of the trash heap now and see Kenma in action for himself.


	9. KK

It was the third day of spring nationals and Kenma stood off to the side of the court right after warm-ups with the rest of his team, watching Kuroo approach Daichi to shake hands, as captains, before their match. Both teams made it to the battle of the trash heap on the nationals stage: Nekoma versus Karasuno.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the crows of Karasuno, masters of the diving dig,” Kuroo jibed, smirking and holding out his hand for Daichi to grasp.

Daichi took his hand and it looked like he was gripping it quite firmly, “we never would’ve gotten here without you.”

Kenma squinted at the pair then smirked a little to himself, seeing Kuroo’s barely there wince at the other captain's vice hold. It was funny how they were both so obviously in the dark.

Then the announcers started commenting on the starting lineups for both teams and Kenma wandered over to his starting position on the court. He peered over at Shouyou, wondering idly what miraculously amazing athletic feats he’d witness today, and started working out what type of moves he'd use against him first. 

His gaze slowly meandered across Karasuno’s players until they fell on an increasingly familiar, freckled, brunette. The latter looked excited, nervous, and fidgety while talking rapidly to Tsukishima. It looked like the tall, blonde gave some sort of diminished response because Tadashi visibly deflated. Kenma frowned, wondering how they balanced each other out as the best friends he knew them to be when he only ever observed quiet resignation by Tadashi from their interactions. It sort of bothered him, but he had trouble placing the reason. He had a weird best friend relationship too, so he couldn’t really judge. 

“Awright, Kenma! Let’s get out there and whoop that monster and his club!” Tora said, putting his hands on his hips and looking over towards Kageyama and Hinata.

“Yeah, it’ll be a real big pain in the butt if they force us into splitting up our blockers..” Yaku added, following Tora’s gaze. Then they both turned and looked at Kenma.  _ Is it possible or impossible? _

“Dunno,” he replied.

Then Coach called for the huddle-up for their captain, Kuroo, to say something inspirational before the game. Kenma tried to sneak away, not wanting to be involved in whatever ridiculousness Kuroo was undoubtedly going to spew, but Tora grabbed him and hauled him over too. 

“Okay, let’s do the usual, shall we?” Kuroo started, smirking around at everyone, “we are blood. Never stop flowing. Keep moving, keep bringing in the oxygen, so that our ‘brain’.. can operate at his best. Let’s devour every last scrap off their bones!”  _ Ugh. _

The match started out with a powerful serve from Kageyama, but Kenma knew his team would be able to bump his serves, regardless of how much of a punch they packed. As expected, Kai bumped it cleanly and sent it to the perfect spot. Kenma didn’t even have to move from his position and he sent it to Lev, who smashed it down. It was picked up by Nishinoya though, then Kageyama sent it to Tanaka who used a nasty cut shot. Tora was in the perfect spot, however, and lobbed it up towards Lev who was still in the air after jumping to block Tanaka from before. Lev nudged it over, but Daichi picked it up and it flew to Kageyama again. Kenma nearly saw the set in slow motion as the other setter sent the ball in a flash-quick to Shouyou. His friend’s eyes lit up like fireworks as he slapped the ball downward, directly at Kenma himself. Kenma got his arms under it in time, but the trajectory was nasty and it ricocheted off of them, careening out of bounds.  _ Ah, that’s fast. They got the first point.. that’s a bit foreboding. But this is nationals.. We get our game, Shouyou. Here’s your chance to convince me that volleyball is fun. _

He glanced across the net and realized Shouyou was already watching him, grinning like a madman, “here it is! We get our ‘instant game over’ game, Kenma!” 

Kenma just smiled back at him through the net as he had been thinking the same thing. Kageyama served again, and Kenma thought the best way to respond to their super freak-quick was with a quick attack of their own. As soon as Kai bumped the serve over, Kenma lightly hopped into the air and zipped the ball to Lev for a quick. His tall teammate pulled it off and slammed it down right behind Hinata, basically scoring off height alone. Hinata grumbled through the net, glaring daggers at Lev and Kenma for their blatant abuse of Lev’s height, but Kenma just maintained his bland composure. He was unwilling to let anything give way to his plans, especially his facial expressions, and steadily kept up his blank, unassuming look.

In the next play, Kenma decided to test Shouyou’s growth as a player, since he noticed his friend was starting to read the cues of his opponents and make better gameplay decisions. He realized that he could probably use that newfound interest against Shouyou as well, after seeing Karasuno’s previous match against Inarizaki just the day before. He got into position under the ball smoothly then subtly glanced behind himself before he set the ball. Shouyou didn’t move towards his glance, but he did pause for a second or two with an anguished, perplexed expression smattered across his face before jumping to block the other direction. Kenma snapped the ball to Kuroo while Shouyou was obviously at war with himself, trying to read-block, and the captain scored.  _ Ah, so he didn’t fall for it this time. But.. in the time it takes to think ‘oops, wait’, he’ll already be too late.  _

“Yeah!” Kuroo called out, happily.

“Yo, Kenma! You’re lookin’ real sharp so far this game, bruh! Is it only gonna be for the beginning though? You gonna give up and slack off?” Tora asked brightly. Kenma completely ignored him and turned away to get back into position for the next play.  _ Ugh. Wish he’d shut up.  _

Karasuno was proving to be a challenging opponent, as they grew so fast and accumulated so many different moves that they were really never the same team twice. Despite all their previous practice matches together, it was going to take a little time to observe their new pace. Karasuno’s ace blasted the ball over the next moment while Kenma contemplated their plans and he bumped it a little messily, hissing slightly at the sting of the ball smacking off his forearms.  _ Ouch.. that guy's unrelenting today. But we’ll just do what we always do. Search, adjust, acclimate, connect, never let the ball touch the floor.  _

In the next rotation, Tsukishima came up and was directly across the net from Kenma, who accidentally caught the guy’s eyes and couldn’t help but give a mildly glowering, exasperated look at the other. Tsukki just peered back somewhat curiously, like he didn’t know why Kenma would dislike him. Kenma immediately grimaced and quickly turned away. It was a small exchange, and he didn’t know why he had a problem with the guy either, other than his annoyingly good blocking and crafty game sense on the court. It bothered him that it was taking him so long to sort out the impression, and it made him want to push back. He subtly signaled the team to try a synchronized attack next. 

The idea worked out with a bit of a back and forth since both teams ended up throwing synchronized attacks at each other; all their players running wildly up the court, but Nekoma came out on top as Kuroo completely shut out Tsukki’s spike. Kenma glanced over to the sidelines, hearing Suga griping loudly, “wait! That’s the first time we’ve ever done a five-man synchronized attack against Nekoma, right? Stupid Kuroo was stupidly on top of that one..” 

Kenma spied Tadashi standing next to Suga, peering around the court with a glazed over sort of expression like he was off on another planet, and Shouyou responded grimly back to Suga while walking over to them, “well.. if you think about it.. if Tsukishima the tenacious, naggy, annoying blocker, has a master.. it’s Kuroo-san.” 

Kenma turned his head away, letting his hair fall across his face, and focused on the ground, hiding his laughter. Shouyou was definitely on the right track with that line of thinking. Kenma took a breath to compose himself and wondered if that was the reason he didn’t like the blonde; because he could be just as annoying as Kuroo. 

Kuroo’s impish voice rang out not even a second later, directed at Tsukki, “you sure you aren’t getting blown through ‘cause you’re still putting your arms straight up? I told you, you wanna put ‘em forward, Mr. Justin Club.”

“Handing out advice to opponents again? I see you are as self-confident as ever,” Tsukki replied, sounding bored, but he had this little, disgruntled frown on his face.

“Nah!” Kuroo said brightly back to him, “I just do it to mess with you!” Tsukki looked both unimpressed and livid at the same time, which Kenma didn’t know was possible, and had to turn away again, shielding another few snickers. 

The set continued on with Nekoma managing to stick pretty close behind Karasuno’s score, which was better than usual because they purposely lapsed in the beginning of a match to feel out their opponents and make sound plans to take them down. About halfway through, Shouyou rotated to the back row again and Tsukishima rotated to the front, switching places with their libero, and Kenma looked up after hearing Suga yelling, “yeah Tsukishima! Get out there and whoop Kuroo’s butt!” 

“Well, well, Suga-chan sure is all hot and bothered today,” Kuroo commented, looking highly amused. 

Tora glanced between them, saying, “you’d never guess it by looking at him, but the dude is waaaay too high strung.”

Tsukishima turned around to face Suga and said bluntly, “no. I can’t.” Karasuno’s vice-captain halted and just blinked at the bluntness in surprise.

“Figured he’d say that,” Shouyou commented as the whistle blew for a player substitution while he was already walking towards the sidelines. 

Tsukki turned back around to Kuroo and said calmly, a teasing lilt edging into his tone, “you see, never in my life have I thought I could challenge someone better than me and win. I mean, me? Outdo  _ you _ , Kuroo-san? Ha ha ha! Goodness, no. Never.” Then the blonde paused and adopted a serious demeanor, “I am under no illusions that I could ever beat you on my own.”

After he said it, Kenma realized that Tadashi had smoothly replaced Shouyou on the court to serve and was holding a volleyball, listening in and gazing at his best friend with a strange look lingering on his face. Kenma stared, mind scrolling through theories of what that expression could mean. It was determined, but with a strained sort of hesitance. Something a little broken, but also seemingly akin to adoration. Kenma continued to peer at Tadashi, unable to tear his eyes away, not that anyone was paying attention to him anyway at the moment, and everything just clicked.  _ It was Tsukishima. He was the heart-breaker. Is the heart-breaker? How long do you plan on letting your heart break for, Tadashi?  _

Kuroo’s voice broke him from his reverie, “you sure  _ he _ isn’t all about beating us on his own?”

Kenma followed his friend’s gaze and saw he was eyeing Tadashi suspiciously. Tsukishima dropped his voice down to nearly a whisper, “oh, he probably is. He’s always one step ahead of me, after all.” Kuroo just looked back at Tsukishima blankly, like he missed the train of thought there, and Kenma silently agreed. 

The whistle blew for the serve and Tora shouted, “bring it on, bruh!”

Tadashi tossed the ball, chased it, jumped and smacked it over, right at Tora. It floated nastily and Tora called out, “got.. it..?”, but it twisted right before hitting his outstretched arms and flew sideways off the court. 

Yaku and Tora lamented the loss of the point and how challenging that serve was to receive, but Kenma just stared a little wide-eyed at Tadashi through the net. It was definitely different to see that serve in action and try to stop it than it was to see it during practice. 

His next serve was just as tricky, but Kai bumped it neatly to Kenma. He decided to send the ball to Fukunaga on the opposite side of the court, bypassing Kuroo, but it seemed like Tsukishima was waiting for that play. The snarky blonde read the situation easily and jumped to block just as irritatingly well as Kuroo would have, completely shutting out their attack. Kenma frowned, understanding in an instant what Tsukishima had meant earlier and seeing what an effective ‘serve and block’ looked like right up close. In retrospect, he wasn’t surprised since he vaguely remembered Tadashi telling him they’d use that strategy with his serves at some point. He sneakily shot looks at his soulmate while his teammates complained about the strategy and openly blamed Kuroo for teaching Tsukki how to block more effectively in the first place. 

Kenma watched Tadashi’s elated face light up even brighter when Tsukki went over to him and gave him a high-five for their successful play. He suddenly felt a little irked, like he was missing out on a special event for one of his games due to bad timing. 

Luckily, Tadashi’s next serve was easily picked up by Yaku because the swerve seemed slightly off and they cut his soulmate off before he could score more points. Kenma sighed to himself in relief. He usually didn’t care about the outcome of a match so much, but with the desire to conquer Shouyou and play against Tadashi occupying his mind, he wanted to make sure they’d last. Tadashi’s serves were really aggressive for a jump float technique since they were so well placed and fast. So the best option was to limit the number of times the latter could poke at them with that sharp spear of his.

Kuroo served next, but he only took back one point as his second serve was beautifully bumped by Daichi to Kageyama who sent it to Tsukki, scoring down the middle. Kenma commented to Kuroo quietly as he shuffled by, switching with Yaku, “you could’ve scored another point or two, y’know?”

“Please don’t say that so casually..” Kuroo replied, looking mildly incredulous. Kenma really didn’t want to give Karasuno any more points, but their perfect defense was nearly set up and complete. Just a few more tightened line shots and closed off attack lanes to go before it was operating at peak efficiency. The only issue was working around Shouyou who could attack from anywhere, and the simple fact that Kageyama could set the ball from anywhere too. It would take time, but Kenma knew they could shut them down, pluck their wings.

The first set was nearing its end with Karasuno reaching twenty points first and Nekoma trailing them with eighteen. Kenma stared at the opposite side of the court blankly while Kuroo was up to serve again, thinking about how to lay down his plans for the next set now before this one ended.  _ I figured taking set one was going to be kinda hard. Ah well. Winning it will make the rest easier… but if we can’t take it, I want to hang in there a little longer and drag as much information out of them as we can. Then in set two, we can shut down Shouyou. _

Just as he was ruminating on his future plans, Kageyama won a joust right up on the net against Lev and the ball went flying down behind him. Tora bumped it up messily and urgently shouted, “Kenma!”

There wasn’t any way to avoid making the save himself and bumping the ball to someone else would be pointless from this distance considering where everyone else was on the court. Deciding that he’d just have to set the ball from an awkward angle, Kenma quickly sprinted to get under the ball. He jumped and twisted his body around smoothly, zipping the ball in a perfect trajectory to Lev who slammed it down, earning them a point. 

“That set was kinda low!” Lev commented, gleefully, like he always looked after scoring a point with a quick attack.

“Sure, sure,” Kenma mumbled, getting back into position slowly, a little haggard from running and jumping into that set with more effort than usual.

“Wow, Kozume-san,” Kageyama said through the net, looking mildly surprised despite his usual neutrality, “you can move.”

Kenma looked into his face for a second, then back down at the ground, “well, yeah. I guess. I am alive, after all.”

Tora came up from behind and smacked him in the back jovially, “hey Kenma! Stop letting Kageyama show you up all the time!”

“What are you talking about? Are you crazy?!” Kenma responded with a grimace, hunching over from the exertion of extra energy needed to perform that quick set.

“Bwuh?! That bad huh?” Tora flinched.

“Don’t lump me in with guys who play crazy hard like he does. It’s rude.. to them..” Kenma said quietly, then paused a moment before adding, “still… watch really amazing players enough times...and my mental list of ‘things I guess I could probably do’.. does get updated a bit.” 

Tora stared back looking a little puzzled, but Kenma distinctly saw Kuroo smirking as he walked by to go serve again.  _ Welp. Time to start working on Shouyou. _

The very next time he was up to serve again, Kenma purposely aimed the ball at Shouyou. He had seen the energetic guy working really hard to learn how to assess his opponents’ plays and position himself to receive those balls more efficiently throughout the tournament so far. It was obvious that Shouyou had developed a liking for floor defense very recently, and Kenma had fully decided to use this newfound interest against him now. It would be simple to just let Shouyou enjoy receiving all those balls, taking himself out of the running for his freak-quick attack, especially off of serves. Kenma subtly signaled his team behind his back with a quick hand motion, instructing them to target Shouyou’s position on the court. 

The last few rallies felt like they were never-ending with Nekoma and Karasuno picking up the pace on the offensive. The game went into a deuce, then Nekoma was at match point and Kenma noticed that Azumane was about to attempt to spike for the third consecutive time. Kenma idly thought about the fact that Kageyama was most definitely a sadist. Nekoma wouldn’t let the ball drop, and they were applying just the right amount of pressure; building up to that moment when he knew Karasuno would be ravenously desperate to score. 

Then Kenma had a front-row seat, watching it all go down with his eyes following the free ball he barely bumped back to the other side fall right where he intended it to. Right in the middle of all the crows, who were flapping around, frantically positioning themselves into a synchronized attack formation. But they were so narrowly focused on that perfect formation, mobbing together for their attack, that none of them went after the plummeting ball. It bounced, untouched, on the court amidst them all and they froze, staring at it incredulously like they didn’t know how it got there to begin with. Kenma peered at them, flashing a mischievously satisfied smile that he didn’t think anyone caught, since their focus was still resolutely on their monumental mistake. But he turned around to hide it just in case, as he didn’t want to get caught relishing in his victory. Nekoma had taken the first set right out from under their noses.


	10. YT

Tadashi had seen it. A brilliantly coy, complacent expression on Kenma’s face for a brief second after his own teammates completely missed the ball. They were standing there gawking at the place where the ball dropped, shocked that they had messed up so horrendously that it lost them the first set. He knew his team really didn’t pull its punches when it came to a fight, and almost always took the first set. But apparently, not against Nekoma. When he thought about it, this seemed kind of obvious as they hadn’t ever actually won a set against Nekoma before, despite playing numerous practice matches against them. He really thought they’d be able to do it this time though and grimaced as his team prepared to switch sides of the court for the second set, knowing they’d have to fight tooth and nail for this next set; or else they’d be done at nationals.

Tadashi couldn’t erase the image of Kenma’s deviously happy look out of his mind, like it had been etched there in permanent marker. It made him instantly come to terms with the fact that his soulmate was such an elite strategist, that he’d probably already planned out several methods for taking Karasuno down. The most frustrating aspect of this revelation was that he had no idea what those plans were and would have to just wait and see from the sidelines. 

While switching sides, Tadashi walked alongside Hinata and Kenma commented quietly as he was passing them, “you’ve gotten good at digs and bumps, Shouyou. I saw it during the Inarizaki game too.”

“Yes! Wooo!” Hinata screeched, obviously pleased with Kenma’s praise. Tadashi smiled blandly at the pair, wondering if there was a reason Kenma would specifically point that out to his teammate now. He was starting to get a distinct feeling that most things his soulmate said had multiple intentions.

“Receiving really sucks at first, doesn’t it? It’s hard and it’s tiring and it hurts.. but once you learn to do it a little, suddenly it gets really interesting.” Kenma continued his commentary, his eyes lingering on Shouyou’s face like he was watching out for the other’s exact reaction.

Hinata just seemed really energized, “yeah! It’s like, ‘oh! So this is what you were really like?!’.. but I’m not done yet! I’m in the middle of special training to become the awesomest ball-boy ever! Just you watch!” 

At this declaration, Kenma looked back at him quizzically, like he and no idea what Hinata was talking about now. But to be fair, Tadashi didn’t get it either, and he quickly covered his mouth to hide a few snickers at the pair of them. This seemed to draw Kenma’s attention anyway and he gave Tadashi a small, genuine smile, mumbling, “nice serves,” before following his team to the other court.

Tadashi was stuck on that expression for a moment or two, thinking of how expressive Kenma could be at times. He understood at that moment that it was mostly the alluring, almond-shaped, golden-hued eyes that hinted at his soulmate’s emotions. The more his thoughts lingered on that face the more he grasped the unmistakable truth that Kenma was very pretty. Tadashi blinked and realized he had followed Hinata along to the rest of his teammates on autopilot and tuned back into their huddled-up conversation a bit late. 

“-a few at him on purpose.” Sawamura-san was saying. 

“Yeah, if they aimed right, they’d make it real hard for him to pull off a freak quick. Aim it wrong though, and they’d just give us a lollipop of a serve..” Asahi-san added in.

“What?! They’re aiming at me?!” Hinata squawked in surprise. 

“Making Hinata take a knee... the strategy we used against Inarizaki’s ace.. they’re using it against Hinata,” Suga-san said, looking around to a few nods of agreement amongst them. Hinata suddenly looked even more excited than before, which Tadashi didn’t know was possible. He was absolutely radiating at this point, like pure sunshine.

“Oh shut up,” Kageyama groaned, irritated.

“But I haven’t said anything yet?!” Hinata shrieked, then scolded himself like Kageyama would have, “‘don’t bump the ball and sit back all satisfied with myself’.. I get it.”

“But, ya know?” Tanaka-san started, wiping his head with a towel, “lunging forward to bump, scooting back behind the attack line, then running forward again to hit.. that’s askin’ a whole dang lot.”

“If you can work it so you flow right from the dig into your approach though,” Sawamura-san said, looking at Hinata, “that actually makes it a little easier, since you can keep your own timing.”

“But it’s not like they’re going to aim at Hinata every single time..” Suga-san added.

“As long as they don’t put it somewhere  _ only  _ Shouyou can get it.. he should ignore it and let the back row bump it,” Noya-san suggested, then more nodding agreement from the others.

“The other problem is Kuroo’s serve. We have to cut him off at one as much as possible.” Sawamura-san instructed, then the whistle blew, and everyone shouted ‘right!’.

Tadashi peered across the court, watching one of Nekoma’s wing spikers prepare to serve. He roamed their faces, pausing on Kenma to see if he would be making another interesting expression. But the latter was just gazing back across the net blankly, completely unreadable. Their spiker aimed for Hinata, just as they thought he would, and he bumped it. However, in a surprising move, he dashed across the length of the court and sprang into the air for a wide, slide-shot. Kageyama snapped the ball to him and he smacked it down, scoring the first point of the set. 

Tadashi yelled, “yeah!” along with Suga-san and he heard Tsukki laughing derisively. Nekoma’s members looked a little taken aback at first by the freak duo’s quick attack, but Tadashi spied Kenma saying something to Hinata with a threatening, ghostly smile lingering on his face. Hinata looked alarmed, hopping away from the net a few steps, and Tadashi wondered what his soulmate had said. 

After that, the set progressed really evenly with Nekoma only trailing Karasuno by one or two points. It was daunting, watching his teammates not pull any of their punches just as Coach instructed, regardless of their opponents targeting Hinata so heavily. All throughout, Tadashi was watching the scoreboard and realized that with Nekoma’s careful placement of serves, sets, and free-balls, they were really starting to cage Hinata. The points that his energetic teammate usually scored for the team just weren’t happening. Plus, Nekoma was so advanced with their floor defense, that every rally dragged on for what seemed like forever; it was exhausting just to watch. 

The points crept higher and higher until they were midway through the game. Coach called him over, telling him that he was up to serve next when Hinata rotated to the back. Tadashi felt the anxiety washing over him in waves, but reminded himself that they were ahead at the moment and even if Nekoma bumped his serve, it would only be one point lost which paled in comparison to what they could gain. He stepped over to the back of the court to serve, finding his focus point and resetting, then steadily bonked the ball over. Despite its tricky trajectory that went exactly according to plan, Nekoma got under it and it was cleanly bumped to Kenma. The setter zipped the ball in a quick set to Taketora-san, who slammed it past Tsukki for a point. Tadashi scowled and muttered to himself as he switched with Hinata again, “damnit.” 

Tadashi could almost visualize it happening step by step, as Nekoma finally shut down Hinata. Like they had been slowly needling him throughout the entire set, poking away at him while he was antsy to score. Then they completely blocked his freak-quick attack, like they predicted that he’d use it only when he had enough space for a solid approach. Coach Ukai abruptly called a time out and they all gathered around to discuss a counter-plan. 

“They’re not just forcing Shouyou to bump the serves.. the clever bastards are even using me!” Noya-san said in frustration, “remember at the start of the set when Shouyou bumped the serve and went straight from that into a slide?”

“Yeah, that was one slick move,” Tanaka-san answered.

“Thanks!” Hinata chirped happily.

“But then when that rotation came around again… and in just this last rally...” Noya-san continued, ignoring his teammates’ commentary, “they know I’m going to bump it, and by putting the ball right in that spot.. they’re using me to block Shouyou’s path, shutting down any chance of a slide. At first, I thought it was just a coincidence, but it’s happened too often. They’re doing it on purpose.”

They all looked at Noya-san for a beat then Kageyama spoke up, “true.. but it's not like we can just not bump the ball at all.”

“Right, and if it’s in a spot Nishinoya can do it, all the better,” Asahi-san commented.

Sawamura-san looked around them and said, “with the right positioning, it’ll be possible to dodge around each other.”

“Getting marked this bad by the other team is just something the ace has to deal with,” Coach Ukai said, grinning at Hinata, who looked a funny mix between pleased and aghast.

“Bruh! Quit it with the ‘um, sorry guys’ look on yer face, would ya?!” Tanaka-san growled out at him, clearly annoyed that Coach had bolstered Hinata’s mood by calling him the ace. 

“Still.. it’s not like I’m being picked on by a super-nasty, ‘nobody can bump it’ killer serve.. and it’s not like I have to try to block somebody who’s twelve feet tall,” Hinata said, smiling confidently, “bumping the serves that come at me, and getting a good run-up into a good jump are all things that I can do if I just try hard enough.” The whistle sounded suddenly, signaling the end of the time-out, and the team went back to the court. 

Even with the confidence and optimism, Tadashi couldn’t help but lose some of that certainty as he watched as his friend was entirely shut down and went through an entire rotation in the front row without scoring once. Tadashi glanced over at Kenma, finally wrapping his mind around the idea that he was most certainly the mastermind behind Hinata’s downfall, and the setter looked a little off. He had this forlorn, bored expression persisting on his face like he had just completed a long, drawn-out, story-heavy video game and he was sad that it had ended. Tadashi scoffed and put his hands on his hips.

“What?” Suga-san asked, craning his body around a bit to follow his gaze. 

“Ah, sorry, it’s nothing,” Tadashi replied and grimaced softly.

“No, no, tell me-“ Suga-san insisted, then Tsukki scored a block-out point, “yeaaaahh! Tsukishima!” 

Tadashi smiled brightly across the court at Tsukki, giving his friend a thumbs up since the latter had glanced back at Suga-san’s shoutout. The blonde half-smiled in return, the corners of his mouth lifting upwards for a moment, then got back into position for the next serve.

“So, tell me, what’s up?” Suga-san asked, his eyes still trained on the court.

“Oh! Um.. how-how do you handle playing games against teams that have your soulmates on them?” Tadashi asked in return.

Suga-san did a double-take, then focused on Tadashi’s face, “you’re asking me for relationship advice... right now?” He gestured mildly around them like it would illustrate his point, which it did immediately as the whistle blew signaling a point for Nekoma.

“Ah.. yeah, yes. But we’re not dating,” Tadashi answered meekly, feeling a little dumb, but not derailed, “you-you kinda, um, have a devious soulmate that we’ve played against before, right? How did you handle that?”

Suga-san squinted back at him curiously, the game completely forgot for a moment, “Yamaguchi…”

“Um! Sorry! He’s not.. um.. that... bad?” Tadashi back-peddled, realizing he may have insulted his senpai’s soulmates.

“Aha! He kinda is though! Don’t mind,” Suga-san laughed while waving his hand through the air dismissively, then continued, “it was hard. It felt like I was being pulled in two directions at once. But I think.. that had more to do with the fact that I have two..you just have the one, right? Tobio hasn’t mentioned who..?”

“Oh! It’s not um.. a secret.. or anything. Mine’s Kenma,” Tadashi said quickly, glad Suga-san wasn’t offended. However, the other looked comically surprised for a flash of a second, then schooled his face back into his usual, pleasant smile.

“This match must be weighing on you then, the pressure,” Suga-san asked without asking, “or maybe not? I personally feel like that part of it is much worse when the bond is ignored.. but that’s just my own nonsense, probably.. but man, during our last match against Seijoh, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to cheer him on or smack him upside his stupid, gorgeous head! Anyway, have you worked anything out with Kenma yet?”

“Ehh?.. g-gorgeous head?” Tadashi blinked at the other, trying to keep up. He hadn’t really talked about the soulmate phenomenon with anyone in much detail before, only scratching the surface of what it was in classes and here and there with his friends. Tsukki never wanted to discuss it. Kageyama would say things from time to time if he was flat out asked. But asking him seemed like a lot of trouble for some reason, even though he had proved that he’d give genuine, thoughtful answers. Hinata didn’t really mention it either, and now Tadashi distinctly knew why; Yachi-san seemed more or less in the dark as much as himself. Asking his classmates was a bit out of the question as well, since he didn’t want to bother them.

“Yeah c’mon, Yamaguchi, you have eyes...and a thing for blondes, apparently.. so, talk to him about any of it yet?” Suga-san reiterated, obviously having no intention of dropping the topic even in all the chaos, and smirking a little while glancing between Tadashi and the court.  _ A thing for blondes?! What.. what does he mean? Tsukki?! ..he couldn’t possibly know about that, could he?! Kenma’s blonde too.. ah.. I see what he means now.. huh. _

“Umm.. nah, we’re friends though. He’s, um..” Tadashi felt a little weird, talking to Suga-san so candidly about his relationship problems, but pressed on anyway, “I can never get a solid read on what he thinks about things. At least, never in person. He always seems to be.. uh.. sort of.. holding back or uninterested? Umm, that’s not quite what I mean. I don’t know. Maybe it’s because our text conversations are so different from when we see each other in person, but then I remember that we hardly see each other in person in the first place since he’s all the way in Tokyo.. and then I realize that regardless of all that, he’s still basically the same, if I really think about it? Maybe?”

“I see…” Suga-san replied slowly, his head tilting to the side a bit, “y’know, for being a quiet guy, you’re pretty chatty once you get goin’, you know? Hmmm.. I’m surprised you’re asking me this stuff though, wouldn’t you normally talk to Tsukishima, or Hinata, or Tobio.. wait, maybe not Tobio? Oh! I don’t mind though! Of course you can talk to me, Yama-kun. Let’s see…” Suga-san glanced at the court, Tadashi following his gaze and they saw Nekoma taking a few steps back as the ball was being set to Sawamura-san for a back-row attack. Kuroo-san was shouting something like ‘back, back, back!’ and they blocked Sawamura-san’s spike, then Kuroo-san ran up for a quick and slammed it down for a point.

“You’re not supposed to adjust that fast, dammit!” Suga-san griped heatedly, then turned back to Tadashi and huffed, putting his hands on his hips before instantly cooling down again, “I think you should try sorting out what you want to do about your soulmate bond and how you feel about the phenomenon in the first place. Then just ask Kenma what he thinks too. At least, that worked for me.”

Tadashi nodded along slowly, impressed by how easy Suga-san made all of that sound. He personally didn’t think it could be that simple, but that was probably because he and Suga-san were very different people. It seemed improbable that he could muster up the confidence to be that straightforward.

Tadashi focused back on the game as Nekoma reached twenty points first, with Asahi-san fumbling his aim on a spike and slamming it down just out of bounds. Hinata rotated to the front row again, and Suga-san switched with Tsukki to serve. The serve went well, then Suga-san and Kageyama used their double-setter swap, five-hitter synchronized attack. Tadashi thought for sure that Suga-san would set the ball to Hinata, but he sent it to Kageyama who smashed it down harshly. Unsurprisingly, it was saved and bumped to Kenma, who popped it over the net in that nasty spot right up front that had his teammates scrambling to receive it. Hinata bodily dove for the ball and saved it, but Suga-san had gone for the ball too and couldn’t set now. Tadashi groaned to himself, seeing clearly how Kenma just took out two key players in one shot. The rally kept going, and Hinata didn’t let up on being a decoy, sprinting around and getting his approach distance however he could. But it all ended when he slipped on some dampness on the floor and missed an approach. Nekoma blocked Tanaka-san’s spike and they took the point. 

“Well, at least the idiot doesn’t seem too down about all that,” Tsukki commented quietly, looking contemplatively across the court at Hinata as the guy helped wipe down the floor with a towel.

Tadashi blinked at him for a second, suddenly hyper-aware of anything Tsukki said that was related to Hinata, “doesn’t seem so.. he did just make a really good save..” 

Tsukki didn’t say anything more and they watched as Kageyama got under the ball during the next rally, suddenly shouting, “four!” 

Tadashi stared, wide-eyed, as their setter tossed the ball high up to the ceiling right over the middle of the court. Then he squinted, lights blinking brightly in his eyes as he watched it fall, gaining momentum. At the same time, Hinata paused and squinted at the ball as well, then grinned and got the perfect approach distance. He ran straight up the center of the court and kicked off the ground so hard that Tadashi heard the sound of his feet leaving the ground. Then he was in the air, higher than ever before, and swung his arm down to nail the ball. But he missed slightly and ended up tapping it over the blockers’ outstretched hands instead of slamming it behind them. Regardless of his obvious intention to slam the ball, it still fell and bounced off the court, untouched. Now they were tied. 

Tadashi gaped at his team members as they squabbled through the net with Nekoma, who were apparently shocked by the stunt as well. Tadashi peeked over at Tsukki to see his reaction, but his friend just had bored indifference plastered across his face. 

The very next rally dragged on with all of their attacks being dug easily by Nekoma, then Kageyama shouted ‘four!’ again and set the ball in that super high, beautiful arc. Hinata ran up launched into the air just like before, but this time, he smacked the ball down right above three blockers, bringing Karasuno to twenty-three points.

“Woooow! And that was a triple block too!” Tadashi commented, looking back and forth between his teammates on the court and Tsukki, “did he hit it over them?! Wait.. oh, he went over Kenma, didn’t he?!”

“That was part of it, yes. But when you block Hinata, the big thing you have to keep in mind is that he’s a shrimp who can jump really high.” Tsukki answered blandly, “jumping higher means being in the air longer. Time your blocks the same way you do when you face a taller hitter and you’ll start falling before he hits the top of his jump.”

“Aha! That’s Tsukki the Hinata-squasher for ya..” Tadashi said mildly, gazing at the other.

“Excuse me, I don’t need nicknames like that,” Tsukki grumbled back, slightly irritated.

Tadashi laughed lightly, “sorry, Tsukki!” 

He looked across the net, wondering how many sly comments he could get away with before Tsukki would realize that he knew about his soulmate situation, and his eyes fell on Kenma. The latter was staring at Hinata and Kageyama with a newfound sort of shock and awe lighting up his eyes.  _ Ah! You look interested again. I’m starting to think that we have a good chance to take this set though! _

Just the next play, Tanaka-san bumped a high arching, emergency set to Hinata, who was up against three blockers. But his teammate tooled the block skillfully, bringing Karasuno to match point, and showcasing his blossoming, midair balance. Tadashi laughed at the incredulous looks on Nekoma’s blocker’s faces and then some more after he glanced over to Tsukki, seeing a similar expression.

“Uh, Tsukki.. we scored on that one, you don’t have to look so sour,” Tadashi teased him lightly. 

His friend just scoffed and kept his eyes on the court, and Tadashi followed his lead, seeing Nekoma bringing the game to a deuce.

In a blink, Karasuno was at match point again. Tadashi concentrated on the court, knowing that this could be it. The next rally was just as unforgiving as the ones before, except there seemed to be some sort of undercurrent of relentless effort in order to finally take a set from Nekoma. Both teams kept sending synchronized attacks, but the ball never touched the floor. Then Taketora-san smashed the ball down in a sharp line shot, but miraculously, Hinata appeared there and messily received the ball. The force behind the hit pounded him backward and he fell, landing on his rear, but the ball sailed from his arms back over the net and into the very back corner of Nekoma’s court. It bounced lightly off the ground, completely unattainable by any of their opponents who were flinging themselves after it, and Karasuno scored the point. The whistle blew and the set was over. Karasuno had finally snatched a set away from Nekoma. Everyone ran onto the court in their excitement and mobbed Hinata for such an amazing save. Tadashi peered around, taking in his teammates’ exhilaration, and grinned. He couldn’t wait for the next set. He couldn’t wait to see if they could do it again.


	11. KK

Kenma bent over, panting from the exertion of that last rally. He had been so sure that he fully clipped the crows' wings and caged them in, but they had burst free. He looked up from the ground and studied them for a moment, taking in their exhilarated faces. Shouyou looked like he was going to pass out from sheer excitement, and Kenma huffed a subtle laugh to himself. It seemed so obvious now that they would break free. Every time they played Karasuno, they were different, and every time they played Shouyou, he did something new. 

They walked over to the benches for a quick break with the rest of his team before the third set began and Lev suddenly struck a pose like some kind of hero, “okay, guys! Let’s go out there and win this thing! I’m gonna score twenty points, so you don’t hafta worry about a thing! The rest of you can figure out who scores the other five.”

His teammates looked back at him with varying degrees of concern, and Kenma sighed to himself. Then Kuroo said, conspiratorially, “Hey, did you know? There’s a secret to a good workout. Instead of doing just a hundred plain old regular sit-ups… they say it’s better if you put on weights and only do ten sit-ups that you can just barely make.”

Yaku made a face, “what’s this crap about?”, but clearly Lev didn’t hear him because he looked astonished.

“What, really?!” He said, getting louder and louder by the second, “then it’s not about doing as many as you possibly can?!”

“Nope, it means-“

“Instead of scoring twenty regular points, it’s better to score the one heavy point?” Lev interjected loudly, cutting Kuroo off.

Kuroo smiled and nodded, very seriously, and Kenma rolled his eyes.

“Don’t stand there and nod like that’s some profound wisdom. Heavy points my butt, gimme the twenty regular ones..” Yaku snipped, but Lev was already bounding away towards some of their other teammates saying something like, ‘guys, guys! Didja ya know there’s a secret to workouts?!’ But Kenma had stopped listening at that point and peered at Kuroo while Tora let out a hefty breath of air.

“You’re the last person we need getting all grim and serious. Let’s get a little more hyped up, ‘kay?” Kuroo said to Tora, slapping him on the back, “besides, that last line shot at the end of the last set was amazing! When did you practice that?”

Tora jerked out of his funk instantly, “Really?! Thanks!” 

Kenma just continued to observe his best friend silently, taking in the excellent leadership skills that he knew were hard-earned. He thought back to when they met as kids after Kuroo and his grandparents had moved in next door. Kuroo had slowly gotten him into volleyball in the first place, told him that he’d make a good setter, and never pushed too hard to make Kenma do anything that he really didn’t want to do. _He used to be so shy and reserved. I wonder if he even remembers that._

“What?” Kuroo said quietly, and Kenma realized that the latter was looking back at him curiously.

“Nothing. I was just thinking how you talk a lot,” Kenma replied.

“Dude, where’d that sudden punch to the gut come from?” Kuroo said, pulling a disgruntled face.

“If you were just some partying-jock type, I never would’ve bothered playing this long with you.” Kenma stated.

“Dude, ouch! What’s with the sudden personal attacks, huh?” Kuroo said, still mildly irritated at Kenma’s candor. 

“Yeah, I don’t want to exercise so hard that I run out of breath or work up a sweat if I can avoid it. Yeah, there are times I wanna play video games instead of volleyball. Heck, I’m starting to think I like watching volleyball more than playing,” Kenma continued and heard the whistle for the game to start, “but.. it’s not a bad feeling, to stand up and think, ‘welp, time to get to it.’”

Kuroo gazed at him incredulously for a moment while Kenma stood up and started walking towards the court, “... yeesh, everybody’s gotta be their own kinda crazy, huh?”

But he followed Kenma along with their other teammates into a quick huddle-up and said, very captain-like, “we’ve struggled and toughed it out through all the hard times. Now it’s time to enjoy our reward!”

Yaku laughed and some others cheered and jumped into the air, now fully hyped-up to win. Kenma watched and stuck a foot out lazily in camaraderie, then he heard cheering from across the net and he peeked over to see Karasuno copying them. Kenma smiled, excited to start this set and see if he could pluck all those feathers again. _Hmm, maybe Kuroo was right in what he said during the last match and I’m playing the role of evil overlord for this match.. somehow, I don’t mind it too much though._

The set started off with a bang, as Tanaka-san rammed his spike down and scored despite the long rally and amazing digs by his teammates. Then, unfortunately, Kageyama was up to serve and he placed his cannon-like blast so well that it beamed the back of the court right behind Tora, ending in a no-touch service ace. The scary setter was up again to serve, but they bumped it this time and it went flying to Kenma. He set it to Lev in a quick and they finally scored. 

Then it was Kenma’s serve and he bonked the ball right in the perfect spot where Tanaka would get right in Shouyou’s approach lane. Kenma smiled across the net at their perturbed faces as Kageyama got under the ball. The guy shouted, ‘center!’ and tossed it beautifully into the air in a high arc. Kenma even had enough time to think about how perfect the set was while he saw Shouyou get a good approach and soar through the air before spiking the ball down right between their blockers. However, Yaku was waiting for it and bumped it to Tora who spiked it, evening the score. _Ah haha! Yaku, that was so cool.. did you tell them to split the block beforehand? We gotcha there! The game’s already this intense, though? Why do I feel like I’m not going to last.._

Kenma jumped and twisted while he repeatedly set the ball, trying to keep his movements to a minimum. It was nearly impossible, even with his teammates purposely bumping the ball to him with precise, practiced care. He tossed the ball to Kuroo and watched the next play turn into a nasty joust between him and Tsukki right up on the net. Kuroo managed to push it over and scored, but he looked exhausted and a little livid when he landed back down and he grabbed the net for support. He panted in his exhaustion from the rally and said through the net to Tsukishima while still clutching it, “damnit Tsukki! Quit tryin’ so hard, would ya?.. you keep making these rallies so freaking long that I’m starting to get tired over here!”

Tsukki was panting too, trying to catch his breath, and gave Kuroo a simpering look then replied hotly, “don’t blame me! If you would just stop resisting so much..” he huffed a few breaths, “then.. this would be over a lot more quickly!” 

Kenma raised his eyebrows slightly as he tried to catch his breath as well and Kai commented, sounding a bit surprised at Tsukki’s backlash, “goodness, I guess even Tsukki will snap when he gets tired enough.”

“Haha! You can blame most of that on Kuro and Bokuto!” Yaku put in, smiling smugly.

“Thank you oh so much,” Tsukki said, dryly.

Kuroo side-eyed Yaku, but responded to Tsukki anyway, “no, thank you.” Tsukki looked exhausted, puzzled, and completely done as he walked away. 

It was like this sparked some sort of mini-game and it was middle blocker versus middle blocker, Kuroo versus Tsukishima. They made a very showy display of superior blocking that had all the hitters on both sides squirming in less than five minutes. Tanaka was so completely derailed in his hit by Kuroo’s intimidating block that Nekoma easily took the point. Kenma grimaced to himself, seeing Kuroo approaching the net to say something to Tsukki again, and hoped his friend wasn’t planning to gloat, “y’know how you’re known for your super tenacious and super persistent blocking and just how much it ticks everybody off, right?”

Tsukki looked like he was going to pop a vein as he stared at Kuroo like he was just waiting to see where the instigator was going with this. Daichi walked by on his way back into position and said blandly, “if you’re having trouble wording a retort, I could punch him for you,” and Kenma quickly looked at the ground, letting out a soft ‘pfft!’

“Well, seeing how successful you are at it, I can’t help but think.. thank god. I wasn’t wrong,” Kuroo finished his diatribe, ignoring Daichi’s verbal jab, and Tsukki looked decently taken aback but remained silent. Kenma glanced up just in time to see Daichi smirking before he wandered off to his spot.

The blocker battle continued with Lev joining the fray as well, needling Tsukishima further. But the game was so close, and Kageyama pushed the blonde to really fly like Shouyou would have by setting the ball sky-high and he was able to get above Lev for a spectacularly lofty hit. Kenma saw the guy’s elated expression after nailing that point and realized that he was continually climbing higher and higher in more than just jumps, or blocking, or volleyball even. Kenma watched Tsukishima idly, starting to ruminate on his growth as a player in general. _If he keeps leveling up, I wonder if I’d even be able to surpass him and win over Tadashi at this rate.. I don’t dislike this guy.. and Kuro really likes this guy.. but I feel like he’s my direct competition somehow and he doesn’t even know it? We don’t even play the same position.. It must be the soulmate phenomenon, then. I’m surprised. It’s much less of a subtle sensation than it was described in school. Or maybe it’s just because I remember Tadashi saying that Tsukki isn’t into the bond stuff.. So. Then, does his opinion on soulmates sway Tadashi? I could see that being the case here. But if he already ended that type of relationship with Tadashi, what are his intentions now? Are they really, simply, just friends?_

“Hey, Puddin’head, you okay? Petering out?” Kuroo’s voice broke Kenma from his thoughts and he glanced up into his face, seeing mild concern there.

“Mm, no, I’m still good,” Kenma answered, then looked across the net to catch a glimpse of his soulmate. Tadashi was talking to his own teammates on the sidelines while everyone waited for the whistle to sound, a bright smile lighting up his face nicely.

“You, uh, got your head in the game still?” Kuroo said carefully, clearly following Kenma’s gaze. 

“Of course I do, Kuro..” Kenma said quietly, then they heard the whistle. _I guess I must have looked distracted. Time to refocus._

Kenma got a wide pass in the next rally and he carefully, nimbly stepped backwards, leading Karasuno’s blockers to split up slightly before he set the ball. He waited until the right moment when Shouyou had followed him over just enough, then sent the ball to the opposite side of the court where Tora was waiting and the latter smashed it down, gaining them a point. Kenma was pleased by the success of his strategy and smirked to himself slightly, then he heard the referee’s whistle and saw Tadashi switching places with Shouyou. 

Peering at him through the net, Kenma thought that Tadashi actually looked pretty intimidating in the server's position at that moment. He stood tall and serious with this strange sort of hyper-focused or completely zoned-out look lingering on his face. It was like a melding of the two expressions and it was a bit cringeworthy because it was clear that whatever was coming from him next would be dangerous. In the next ten seconds, Kenma’s instincts turned out to be true, and Tadashi scored a service ace. 

When he walked up to serve again, Kenma idly wondered if his soulmate was striving to win on serves alone, even though they were barely midway through the match. His serving composure and focus were scary, jarring, as they were completely unlike his usual presence. The next serve was bumped, but Kageyama sent Tsukki soaring again, and they scored. Kenma grimaced, knowing they had to work really hard to cut Tadashi off at this next serve else the latter would most definitely run with it. He was a crow too, after all.

As if Tora read his mind, he cut Tadashi off with a very warily carried out receive, followed by a very harshly delivered spike. Kenma glimpsed the scoreboard afterward and realized that they were basically scoring points one after another as if they had previously agreed that they’d take turns nicely for this competition. It was both frustrating and exhilarating to compete against the horrendously challenging opponent that Karasuno had become. Kenma was starting to have a good time in all his labored attempts to keep up. He wondered if that’s what Kuroo meant when he mentioned that Shouyou would be ‘out to get him’ as he phrased it just the night before.

Right as remembered his best friend's words, the ball came zinging at his face, full force, and he barely got his hands up in time to bump it. His eyes darted back to see if Fukunaga had saved it, then shifted back across the net at the hitter. The hit came from Shouyou and he looked gleefully determined like he was having the time of his life trying to beam Kenma with a super-strong spike. Kenma knew the latter really just wanted to score points, win the game, and get him to admit that volleyball was fun; but it was a little eye-opening when the ball was instantly there like that. Kenma huffed and got under the ball, twisting around backward and lobbing it up and over the net himself in a dodgy feint. Shouyou flung his body at the ball, diving to save it from the floor, but accidentally sending it right back towards Kenma. He jumped lightly into the air and tapped the ball down right next to Shouyou, who was still on the ground after his diving receive. It was a pretty nasty move, but Shouyou had just spiked a ball into his face not even a full minute earlier. Surprisingly, Shouyou somehow propelled his body up off the ground and saved the ball with an outstretched arm. Tanaka tried to bump Shouyou’s last-ditch effort, but the ball flew into the net and dropped down on Karasuno’s side anyway. Shouyou got up and stared at Kenma through the net, making a wonderfully irritated grimace. All Kenma could do was smile grimly back at him, but internally he celebrated his tiny win. _Yes, Shouyou is ‘out to get me’, apparently. That last spike made it obvious. Haha! Is this his version of payback for caging him in during the first two sets?_

Kenma huffed, catching his breath while he noticed his coach subbing in their backup setter to serve instead of Lev. This sealed the deal that he was in for the rest of the game, no matter how tired he got. But watching Shouyou and Inuoka challenge each other across the net with their bumps and spikes gave him a bit of energy somehow. 

The ceiling serve from their backup setter didn’t seem to phase Karasuno in the least now and a rigorous rally played out. Kenma found himself flinging his body into the air after a barely received ball that was careening towards the other side of the net. He quickly glanced around, seeing that he couldn’t just let the ball go as it would be easily picked up by the other side. Then he suddenly felt Kuroo’s presence right behind, nearly in the same spot and he was leaping upwards too, miraculously available to hit a quick set. Kenma felt the tips of his fingers brush the ball and he used just enough force to push it higher into Kuroo’s swinging arm. His friend smashed the ball downward, but somehow Nishinoya was there and he bumped it, arms flying up to his face to protect it from the brunt force of the spike. 

The ball flew to Kageyama perfectly, and he zipped it to Shouyou who was already airborne. His energetic friend clearly scanned the triple block and Kenma literally saw his light bulb moment with his swinging arm decelerating as he prepared to tap the ball over in a dink. Kenma lunged forward, readying himself to dive after the ball. But at the last second, Shouyou seemed to have spotted his movements too and ended up smacking the ball a little harder, popping it to the back of the court instead of the front. Kenma lurched out of his dive on instinct alone to try to snatch the ball out of the air, and it ricocheted off his hand awkwardly, continuing on its path to the deep end. Kenma landed like a cat that had just fallen out of a tree on all fours and immediately craned around to see where the ball ended up. His target bounced a few times on the ground a millisecond later, rolling lazily away and the whistle signaled the point going to Karasuno. 

He gazed at the spot where the ball had rolled from, hair falling around his face, covering his complete surprise. He peeked across the net while still obscured and spied Shouyou’s unhinged, thrilled face. He almost looked wild, feverish, at the success of his mid-air antics. It was a look totally and completely worth seeing, like watching his friend perform some sort of costly, high mana point, ultimate move. Kenma suddenly felt KO-ed.

He looked back at the ground, realizing his body really was just pushed to the limits and he flopped down on the floor. The hard surface felt cool and soothing and he closed his eyes, panting, not caring that he basically just let the ground come up to meet him.

“Kenma! Are you okay?!” Kuroo’s worried sounding voice came in close, “did you get hurt?!”

Kenma opened his eyes and gazed at his barely-there reflection in the shiny floor, “that was _fun._ ”

It was quiet around the court for a beat, and he looked around to see his teammates and Karasuno looking at him in concern. Then a very loud, victorious cry, “yes! Yes! Yesssssss!” 

Kenma’s eyes easily found the source as it was Shouyou, and he watched as his friend celebrated alone amongst the varied looks of bewilderment from everyone else. Then Kuroo started laughing heartily, hands on his hips and tilting his head back in a happy sort of exasperation. _Ah. Shouyou won._

Kuroo extended a hand to help Kenma get up and said, like he had read his mind, “come on, we haven’t lost the match..”

“You’re right, let’s fight until we’re completely drained to zero,” Kenma said, grabbing his hand and allowing himself to be hefted into a standing position. 

The next few rallies seemed to fly by and Karasuno kept building and building up their momentum, speeding up frighteningly, until they reached twenty points first. Coach called a timeout and they all gathered around the benches. Kenma slumped down on one, breathing hard, and took a sip of water before saying, “having my characters chug health potions when they’re low on HP and making them fight more.. and even reviving them after they’ve died, making them get up and go back to battle.. y’know.. from now on, I think I’m going to have a little more sympathy for my characters when they’re in battle.”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” Fukunaga said blankly, staring straight into Kenma’s aggrieved face, “volleyball isn’t a sport that kills many people per year.”

“Pfft!” Kenma released an amused breath of air while still panting lightly, then the whistle blew ending the timeout. 

The onslaught continued and Kenma really put all his energy into it, running and jumping and diving around the court to keep that ball alive. He reflected on why Shouyou had wanted him to admit that volleyball was fun, and he thought he might be starting to understand as he went through the motions of perfect play, muscle memory, while lost in thought. _Fighting the last battle, controlling my party of high-level heroes, I always find myself thinking the same contradictory thought as I attack the final boss… please, don’t die yet._

Kenma broke from his mind as he calculated the ideal set to Tora and zipped it away. The latter sliced it down the line in a sharp shot, scoring a point. But they were still behind by two points, then three points as Kageyama nailed a nastily timed setter’s dump. _Not yet._

Kenma returned the gesture, scoring them a point the same way, slowly letting Nekoma claw their way to match point as well. Then Shouyou blasted down another ‘four’ from the center of the court and Karasuno had beat them there, to match point. _Not yet.._

Kageyama served, if one could call a cannon blast a serve, and Tora barely received it as it went flying back over the net. Tanaka jumped into the air in an attempt to smack it down and Kenma reacted swiftly, flinging himself into the air to block. Lev also had thrown himself into the air with abandon, slamming harshly into Kenma’s side, but they deflected the ball back to the deep end of Karasuno’s court. Kenma went bodily flying from the impact of Lev’s giant, six-five body bulldozing into him and he landed on his back. The ball was still falling, but Lev had turned around and shouted, sounding scared that he had done real damage, “ack! Kenma-sannn!”

“Idiot! Forget me! The ball hasn’t hit the floor yet!” Kenma shrieked back at him, springing off the floor nimbly and running full-out back to the net. _I hurt. I’m exhausted. I don’t ever want this to end._

As suspected, the ball did not hit the floor and it was saved, fumbled along by Nishinoya, Kageyama, then Asahi finally bonked it back over the net. Yaku barely bumped it, sending it flying right up to where Shouyou was waiting, magically mid-air as usual and he slapped it down. Then Lev appeared out of thin air and blocked him, but Daichi got a closed fist under it, lobbing it back over. 

It was falling in the front of the court again from that gentle push Daichi gave it and Kenma threw himself at it, getting a wrist under it in time. His teammates followed up and were able to keep it alive, even though it was sailing back over the net again. Kenma heard shouts of ‘free ball’ coming from Karasuno, then he picked himself up from his crouched position, and turned fast enough to see Lev racing towards him. He trusted his teammate and jumped into the air, coming face to face with Tanaka, who smacked the ball down for a line shot. Luckily, Kai was there as usual in their solid defense and bumped it perfectly, constantly connecting.

The ball came falling down from its arc and Kenma leapt sideways, getting into precise position to set it, like always. But this time felt a little different once the ball touched his splayed fingers. It was exceedingly slick, wet from all the players’ sweaty efforts to keep it going in a never-ending rally. It slipped right through his outstretched hands with its nonexistent traction, then fell and landed on the court behind him. Kenma landed back down around the same time, and the whistle blew. He plopped down on the ground in his exhaustion, slouching a bit with his legs splayed out in front of him. They trembled slightly from the excess exertion and he heaved a weary breath. _Ah. It’s over. But it was fun._

Kenma just stayed where he was, basking in all the commotion of the gym by himself until he felt Kuroo’s presence slinking up behind him, but he didn’t bother to turn and face him before he said quietly, “y’know...no matter which of us lost or which of us won, no one was going to die. No one's coming back to life either. Evil won’t flourish across the land. The world won’t be destroyed. It isn’t like we had a grand adventure across a sprawling fantasy world.. we just ran in circles in a rectangle eighteen meters long and nine meters wide, trying desperately hard to make a ball hit the floor in one spot and not hit the floor in another..” he tipped backward until he was laying on the floor and smiled, “and it was the most fun I’ve had in my life.” 

He paused a moment, then sat up again, wrapping his arms around his knees and focusing on his friend, “hey Kuro.. thanks for teaching me how to play volleyball. I like it.”

“Huh?” Kuroo stared back, looking a bit shocked, “oh, uh..sure… what?!”

Kenma got up and started to head towards his water bottle while Kuroo thawed from his frozen state and started yelling, “whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold on! Back up! Back! it! up!”

“Huh? Why are you so mad?” Kenma mumbled. But he didn’t get an answer as Yaku and Kai burst out laughing. Kuroo bent over, putting his hands on his knees like he was fizzling out of energy, and started cackling too, clearly exasperated at this point. Coach called for them to line up to thank the other team for the game and Kenma shuffled over, grumbling, “ugh.. I’m gonna wind up with a fever after this.”

They started to clear the court as the next match would take place there and Kenma watched Kuroo and the other third-years talking with Karasuno’s third-years. For them, this was their final nationals ‘game over’ game. Daichi pulled Kuroo into a tight bear hug and Kenma smiled to himself, wondering again how long it would take for them to figure it out. He mused to himself that it probably wouldn’t take too long, since Kuroo had told Kenma pretty recently that he, Daichi, and Sugawara were all looking into colleges in Tokyo and were thinking about renting an apartment together. 

He broke from his reverie when he heard a low, stern voice call out, “let’s do that again.” He glanced over to see Kageyama and Shouyou walking over to him.

“Bakayama! I was just going to say that!” Shouyou chimed in, looking irritated, and Kenma turned to them, raising his eyebrows slightly. He noticed Kuroo pestering Tsukki now a little ways away and Tadashi hanging around them meekly like he didn’t know if he should be there.

“Hm? Who cares. Not my problem,” Kageyama said bluntly, bringing Kenma’s attention back to the troublesome, monster duo. 

“Kenma! Let’s do this all again next year!” Shouyou said brightly. 

Kenma gave him a genuine smile and said, “yeah, let’s.” Shouyou just beamed back at him as Tsukki and Tadashi finally joined them too, having been released from Kuroo’s clutches. 

Kageyama looked around them all for a moment then said, “alright, see ya. Come on Shrimpy, Beanpole.”

“Excuse me?” Hinata squawked indignantly, and Tsukishima scoffed and strode away, clearly too exhausted to bother coming up with a retort at the moment. But Kageyama just turned and walked off as well, Shouyou hot on his heels, griping about a ‘dun jump’ and Kenma waved lazily. 

“That was an amazing game, Kenma,” Tadashi said quietly, drawing Kenma’s attention from the others’ retreating figures. He looked over Tadashi for a moment, taking in his presence. The latter seemed a little nervous, holding his own hands behind his back and teetering on his feet a little. _What are you nervous about? You stayed to talk with me, but out of obligation, or because we’re friends, or.. what?_

He met the other’s eyes, “yes, it really was.. It was really fun too. Your jump floaters are scary, by the way. I guess the next time we’ll meet up is the next training camp?”

“Oh! Um.. thanks? Your.. um.. everything is scary,” Tadashi fumbled a bit, tilting his head slightly to the side after realizing what he said. Kenma tried really hard not to laugh but ended up letting out a small ‘pfft’ anyway before he could rein it in again. Tadashi seemed not to notice though as he was trying to recover, “Y-yeah! So Camp’ll be in a few months.. we’ll, uh, text, yeah?”

“Sure, of course we can,” Kenma said, then they both heard someone calling out to Tadashi suddenly, so Kenma quickly added before walking away to find his own team, “good luck with the rest of your matches, see ya later.”


	12. YT

It was a week before the first Tokyo training camp of the new school year and Tadashi sat comfortably in Tsukki’s room, working on homework. They had studied earlier in the evening with the others, but Hinata, Kageyama, and Yacchan had already left. It was their second year now and their work content had gotten a little harder, which led to spending quite a bit of time tutoring Hinata in literature just like before. Tadashi was starting to think this would be a trend throughout their friendship, which didn’t really bother him, but it was a little time-consuming. He had spent a good amount of time working through the literature that would most definitely be on their exams, and now he just had to finish the homework that was leftover. Luckily, Tsukki never minded him staying over late. However, he was surprised they had finally convinced him to let everyone study at his place too. 

Tadashi heaved a tired sigh then pulled out his book, opening it to the page he needed, then he heard a light ping from his phone. He took it out of his pocket and opened up the new message.

**_Chat message with Kenma_ **

**_Kenmacat 9:03PM :_ ** I fiiiiinally did it!!!!

**_Me 9:04PM :_ ** what? Beat that boss you’ve been stuck on for like.. what? A month now? Or didja go all out and just beat the whole game? :)

**_Kenmacat 9:05PM :_ ** oh, definitely the whole game 

**_Me 9:05PM :_ ** lol how was it?

**_Kenmacat 9:06PM :_ ** very shallow. I’m really underwhelmed. 

**_Me 9:06PM :_ ** ah.. after you spent so much time on it too? Ouch. Weren’t you making a guide for it too or something?

**_Kenmacat 9:07PM :_ ** yeah. True. But I don’t mind too much.. I don’t mind taking my time on things like that.. I end up seeing it through till the end anyway, so it’s not a huge deal.. yea I completed the guide and posted it, so that’s done. besides, I would have beat it sooner if Tora had left me alone 

**_Me 9:08PM :_ ** haha! what did he ask you to do this time? You kno, there are things you gotta do as vice captain XD

**_Kenmacat 9:09PM :_ ** he said it’s my duty to stay later after practice ends and train Teshiro. The worst part is that Tora knows all my hiding places.

**_Me 9:09PM :_ ** ah! Well.. mybe you could fit in a locker or something. At least you’re not the captain.. ya know that requires even more work. Ennoshita-san’s doing a pretty good job, especially helping the first years adjust to Kageyama and Hinata. Tanaka-san’s a really solid vice too. I kinda wonder who’ll be captain for us next year tho? Teshiro’s ceiling serve is pretty good, how’s the setting going?

**_Kenmacat 9:10PM :_ ** did you just call me small? But.. that is a good idea, I know just the one.. thx. I would definitely NOT be captain, ever. I think you’d make a good one tho.. are you trying to sniff out info on our teams build for this year? We’ll see how the camp matches go, so no spoilers. 

**_Me 9:11PM :_ ** uhhhhhh hahahahhaha don’t know what ur talkin about. i really doubt id make a good captain, Kenma.. i mean, people dont really listen to me? I’m not good at giving orders and all that either lol. I wouldn’t be so sure about camp.. Kageyama and Hinata are still, ya know.. them

**_Kenmacat 9:12PM :_ ** yea, entertaining monsters? I think people listen more than you think they do, Tadashi. And you’re good at solving problems too, you kno? Anyway, that’s a ‘future you’ issue, right? 

**_Me 9:14PM :_ ** mmhmm, good luck future me.. haha monsters is right.. You’ll see at camp, but Hinata’s digs and bumps are getting soooo much better.. mybe we have you to thank for sparking that interest? I mean, it’s only been a few months since spring nationals too. He uh.. said something kinda weird about beach volleyball the other day too..did he mention it to you?

**_Kenmacat 9:16PM :_ ** future you will be fine, probably. Monster and monster, maybe you’re a bit of a monster too and just don’t kno it. I doubt it was me who got him interested in receiving properly.. he was already improving and focusing on it even before our nationals match.. he said something strange about being a ball boy? Where’d he get that from anyway? Yea.. beach volleyball. He did mention that. He said it’s the ultimate training or something. I didn’t get too many details yet tho

A small throat-clearing noise caught Tadashi’s attention and he looked up from his phone screen. Tsukki was gazing back at him with a bland, unimpressed look and he commented dryly, “you know, you’d finish that a lot sooner if you were actually looking at the book. I’d like to go to bed sometime before midnight, please.”

Tadashi tilted his head in confusion, knowing that it was only a little past nine o’clock.  _ Why does Tsukki think my homework will take me several more hours to complete? _

“Sorry, Tsukki.. is there a really long question on one of the pages?” Tadashi asked, now reevaluating how long it would take to finish and get out of Tsukki’s space. The latter seemed a little peeved for some mysterious reason that Tadashi was having trouble pinpointing. It was safe to assume that his friend was just cranky from practice though, and he shrugged it off for the moment.

“Yes, actually.. so maybe, you know, start on it?” Tsukki snarked, definitely peeved, “this is what happens when it takes forever to tutor the idiot brigade.” Tadashi raised his eyebrows at Tsukki’s last comment then quickly sent a message on his phone.

**_Me 9:20PM :_ ** yeah, i guess he picked up some weird ideas from that special week long training camp he snuck into last year.. but whtever. I’m not sure where the beach volleyball stuff is coming from, but I’m going to try to figure it out. I’ll let you kno if i get any leads.. anyway, I gotta go, Tsukki is being kinda off and i should figure out why. ttyl :)

“So, do you think the duo will pass their exams before camp?” Tadashi said, putting his phone down and peeking across the table at Tsukki before shifting his attention back to his book.

“Hah. Only time will tell,” Tsukki said quietly, now busy scribbling whatever it was he was finishing down on his paper, “I have no hope for the Shrimp’s math skills though. I must have explained how to use that new equation from last week to him at least a dozen times now. Nothing. I think Yacchan’s given up as well, and that’s saying something..”

“Well, you kinda have a short fuse there. I’m both surprised and impressed you tried that many times,” Tadashi replied absently, trying to find an answer to one of the questions in his textbook.

“Hm? Short fuse, huh?” Tsukki questioned, looking up from his paper.

“Huh? Oh, sorry, Tsukki, nevermind that,” Tadashi replied, glancing up to him for a moment before as nonchalantly as possible returning to his book. He was trying to keep Hinata’s secret by remaining blissfully ignorant, but sometimes his opinions on his friends’ very clearly strained interactions with each other slipped out.

“Hmmm,” Tsukki just hummed in response, returning to his task. Tadashi quietly celebrated his successful deflection and refocused on his own tasks.

A week later, Tadashi found himself up to serve again in a practice match against Fukurodani. They had made it to the Tokyo training camp, Kageyama and Hinata included, and were finishing up the last match of the evening. Fukurodani still proved to be quite the challenging team despite losing their ace, Bokuto-san, since he graduated. But, they were at match point and Tadashi was on his fourth consecutive serve. Apparently, their opponents' new first years had a hard time with jump floaters and Tadashi had not relented in the least in making sure they were quick and tricky. He took a breath, then jumped and swatted at the ball, sending it zooming over right into one of their new teammate’s face. It was on him in an instant and he threw his hands up to catch it, but the ball suddenly swerved left and landed neatly next to him, scoring the winning point. Tadashi smiled and quickly threw his own hands up to catch Hinata as he came barreling over, tackling him in his glee at winning the match. They thanked the other team for the game and then were dismissed to wash up and grab dinner.

Nekoma was still finishing up their practice match against Shinzen, and Tadashi felt kind of down that he hadn’t been able to really talk to Kenma yet that day. Everyone was always really busy and kept on a tight schedule during the camps to get the most out of them, so it wasn’t surprising that he hadn’t spent any time with his soulmate. But he realized pretty recently that he wanted to try spending time with him in person too.

Tadashi just conceded to grab dinner with his teammates, who were heading there now anyway, and maybe he’d run into Kenma during individual practice later. He knew Kenma wasn’t a fan of extra practice, but his soulmate was also obligated to instruct their new setter specifically. Therefore, Tadashi figured he had a good chance of meeting with him without needing to work up the nerve to ask to meet up. It was nice that they got along so well through text, but he couldn’t tell if there could be anything more than just friendship; he couldn’t seem to work up the confidence to blatantly ask as Suga-san had once suggested. 

A little while later, Tadashi wandered over to the big gym with Kageyama, Hinata, and their new first-year members. Surprisingly, Tsukki opted to do some blocking practice with Lev in the small gym. Tadashi had promised Hinata that he’d work on serves with him and two of the first years, Yaotome-kun and Shoji-kun, while Kageyama worked with Tokita-kun. 

Once they were all in the big gym, which housed three full-sized courts, Tadashi told Hinata and the first years that they could use the middle court, since the furthest court was already being used by some players from Fukurodani, and the other two should use the last free court. Immediately, Kageyama had Tokita-kun set up water bottles across the length of their court and was having him run some sort of setting-accuracy drill. They watched for a moment, then Hinata started bouncing around the middle court with Yaotome-kun, trying to teach him bizarre positioning. Tadashi decided this was a good time to test their receives, and relentlessly drove them crazy with jump float serves. Then Shoji-kun began taking turns with Tadashi, alternating their serves for the others to bump, and the latter was giving out advice on improving his aim. Tadashi was glad that their mishmash training seemed to be working. They continued on like that until Noya-san, Ennoshita-san, Tanaka-san, and Tsukki reappeared, clearly done with whatever they were all doing in the small, side gym. Tadashi noticed out of the corner of his eye that other players from various teams entered the gym too, but he was just about to serve again and was decently distracted. 

Noya-san sprinted across the gym as Tadashi hit his next serve and he slid sideways right under the ball, bumping it overhanded towards Hinata. The guy didn’t miss a beat and sprang into the air then smacked the ball down. It hit the floor inbounds, right by Tadashi’s feet. He stood there, putting hands on his hips, and just gazed at his teammates across the net as they hopped up and down, celebrating their successful spontaneity. Then he shook his head lightly and laughed at their high energy, feeling quite drained himself now, and wandered over to his water bottle. 

Tsukki, who had followed Noya-san over at a more reasonable pace, stood off to the side of their court looking bored, and commented sarcastically, “what happened to ‘rolling thunder’? Gonna give that a name too, like ‘sliding lightning’?”

Tadashi looked around at Tsukki’s comment and blinked, holding his water bottle near his face as he was just about to take a sip but had been derailed.  _ Ohhhhh no... _

Noya-san’s eyes lit up excitedly and he bounced over to Tsukki, Hinata hot on his tail, “Tsuuuuuukkiii! What a great name! Yessss! I will dub thee, the Namerino Extraordinaire!”

“No thanks. Please don’t dub me anything,” Tsukki groaned and rubbed at his temples, clearly predicting future troubles. Tadashi laughed and sat down on the floor, leaning against the gym wall and leaving his long legs sprawled out in front of him comfortably. He was exhausted after a day full of practice matches, more individual practice, helping to train his kouhai, and now watching a mild skirmish break out between his teammates; he decided to simply stay out of it. 

He resolved to remain as still as possible like he was slowly becoming part of the wall and watched as Hinata started ranting about being a better ‘namerater’ or something. But Tadashi was a bit drowsy, and honestly didn’t care at the moment. He saw Ennoshita-san step in and attempt to mediate the ruckus before it grew into something completely unmanageable, and Tadashi just smiled lazily at them all while he watched.

A moment later, he saw someone had moved over to him out of his periphery and he glanced around at them. His eyes met Kenma’s, and his soulmate gave him a small wave in greeting, “hey.”

“Hi!” Tadashi greeted too, taking in Kenma’s appearance. He looked tired too like he had exhausted all his extra energy and Tadashi could guess that he probably had by spending time training up Nekoma’s backup setter. 

Kenma swayed on his feet a bit, hands in his track jacket pockets, looking back into Tadashi’s face before saying, “I escaped. Mind if I play some games here?”

Tadashi laughed lightly, “hah! no, feel free. I’m hiding too,” then he looked poignantly across the court to where the rest of his teammates were still creating quite the scene since a full-on argument had broken out. It was nice to be out of the drama, and Tadashi came to the realization that he actually wasn’t feeling very nervous talking to Kenma either. Maybe some of their comfortable texting friendship was seeping over into the face-to-face world. Also, the atmosphere seemed relaxed around them as if they were in their own little pocket of the gym, tucked away from everything else. Of course, Tadashi knew that it wasn’t true, and they were just off to the side, being vaguely unnoticeable. But it was still a satisfying sort of reprieve anyway.

“Not a very good spot, kinda out in the open a bit, dontcha think?” Kenma replied, having followed Tadashi’s gaze, and his attention lingered there on the rowdy teammates. Their fighting did seem somewhat riveting as even other players in the gym had stopped their practice to watch too, like a kind of interactive theater. 

“Hmm.. sometimes hiding in plain sight has its own kind of effectiveness..” Tadashi answered, and Kenma’s eyes darted back to him, peering at him quizzically. 

“I suppose so..” Kenma said quietly, then took a few steps closer, “can I sit with you?”

“Huh? Sure, of course you can,” Tadashi responded easily, some of his attention still loitering on his teammates across the way. However, he suddenly found himself completely drawn in by Kenma as he shuffled over and sat in Tadashi’s lap between his relaxed legs; as he had inadvertently created a perfect, cozy seat. Kenma leaned back against Tadashi comfortably as if he’d done this a thousand times before and pulled out his game system from his pocket. He turned it on, unperturbed by anything, and started tapping away at the buttons. Tadashi sat shocked and motionless at this point like a petrified, but a living statue, barely breathing. Somehow, Kenma didn’t seem to notice or care and even shimmied a little like he was settling in for the long haul. 

Ten seconds passed, then twenty, then thirty, then Tadashi finally felt like he could start breathing regularly again, having silently adapted to the unexpected closeness of his soulmate.  _ Where did this come from? He’s so comfortable?! Am-am I comfortable?! I’ve never been comfortable to anyone before?! The last time I was this close to someone was Tsukki- _

Tadashi abruptly cut himself off from his current train of thought. He realized that he hadn’t actually thought about Tsukki in that way in quite a while and really didn’t want to go there again now. He thought he was past all that and had labeled it ‘youthful nonsense’ in the back of his mind, despite it only being about a year ago since it ended. Tsukki had very clearly shut that door, and Tadashi didn't feel like he needed to sit around and wait to see if it creaked open again.  _ Does Kenma want to pursue the soulmate bond then? Is that what this means? I can’t tell anymore.. I can’t tell if someone’s reaching out for more, or reaching out for just enough, or just reaching out because it’s in reach, or just reaching out just because they can.. so, will I be caught and pulled along like always? Do I really have a problem with it, though? I’ve let it happen before… maybe I should try reaching for once.  _

He slowly relaxed like he was melting into the moment, thawing out and becoming more comfortable with this new predicament. It was confusing, but he instantly came to terms with the idea that he wouldn’t find answers by simply stewing about things in his mind. There was no way he’d ask Kenma to move anyway, and it actually felt really peaceful. He was so tired at this point, and the pretty, lilting game music singing softly from Kenma’s system along with the rhythmic tapping of buttons was lulling Tadashi into a haze. He reached out and wrapped his arms around Kenma, getting more comfortable since it seemed as though the latter wasn’t planning on moving anytime soon. Kenma looked back over his shoulder in question at the gesture, but Tadashi didn’t know what the question would be so he just said, “‘m tired.”

Kenma returned his attention to his game, “mmmn, then close your eyes and rest.”

Tadashi decided that was an excellent suggestion and he did just that, slumping around Kenma a little. He felt like he had finally lost all his steam and started to drift off. His mind was hazy and he noted the random discoveries about his soulmate while he dozed; Kenma was very warm, pleasant to hold like this, and definitely way more petite than he was, being so easily enveloped in his arms.

Tadashi didn’t know how long he was out for, but he jolted slightly when he heard Tsukki’s voice call out, “Tadashi.. you should probably go to bed, not sleep in the gym..”

He peeped his eyes open, turning towards his friend's voice, and saw him standing a few feet away with a hand on a hip as if he were just walking by and paused only for a moment. It didn’t seem like Kenma was disturbed in the least as he kept his focus on his game, still leisurely leaning into Tadashi. Like being splashed with cold water, Tadashi suddenly realized how this must look; he was basically cuddling with someone in the middle of the gym and he abruptly removed his limbs from Kenma’s body. He looked directly into his best friend’s face, feeling a little embarrassed to be caught doing something so brazen and Tsukki was already peering back at him, looking as unimpressed as ever. The latter rolled his eyes and scoffed softly to himself then walked away. Tadashi watched him go then shifted a bit, and Kenma leaned forward slightly as if silently giving him permission to leave. But other than that minor movement, the latter still seemed completely absorbed in his game system.

“I’m.. I’m gonna go to bed, Kenmacat,” Tadashi said quietly near Kenma’s ear, still a little out of it from being sleepy, plus the extra heaping of embarrassed anxiety piled on top.

Kenma abruptly paused his game and turned around to face him with an intense, inquisitive expression painted across his slightly flushed face. Tadashi tipped his head to the side in question, but was practically trapped by Kenma’s gravity as it was completely unreadable, but grounding him nevertheless. His soulmate’s sudden, undivided attention was fierce, and he had a hard time pulling away from fixating on Kenma’s bewitching features. The burn of his own embarrassment crept up around his neck and face as it dawned on him that he was staring and must be beet red at this point. He looked away, then swiftly stood up and walked backward a few steps saying, “right.. um.. bed.. night!”, then turned tail and almost sprinted away to his team’s room.  _ Wait. What was with that look? What did I just call him? Oh no.. no no no no no..arghhh! That was so embarrassing! Why am I always such a coward?! _

Tadashi didn’t have a chance to brood over his encounter with Kenma however as the rest of the camp went by in a flash with the teams kept just as busy as the first day. Tadashi didn’t wind up in a similar situation with Kenma again either. Nothing seemed weird between them, Tadashi was grateful to notice. However, they were often pulled away naturally by teammates or other poorly timed circumstances, and Tadashi couldn’t work up the nerve to talk about anything substantial with him before the camp was over and they went back to Miyagi. In the back of his mind, there was a tiny, niggling feeling that was urging him to confront his situation, but the distance between him and his soulmate made it easy to shake it off.


	13. KK

It was early on in the new year, the fourth day of spring nationals and Kenma was pretty excited to watch his soulmate’s team compete in the semi-finals. He had watched their entire spring nationals journey this year from the discomfort of his cramped college dorm. Checking the time, he queued up the tournament’s livestream and saw the teams walking along the court, then he heard a ping from his phone.

**_Chat message with Tadashi_ **

**_Freckles 10:28AM :_ ** man, I know Sakusa graduated already and we don’t have to worry about his crazy hits again BUT these guys are huge!! What are they putting in the water at their school?!?!

**_Applepi 10:29AM :_ ** … but you’re huge too? Haha, something in the water, huh? Maybe.. conspiracy theory: growth hormones? Anyway, don’t warmups start in a min, what are you doin?

**_Freckles 10:29AM :_ ** yea, it’s starting in a min.. just a little nervous mybe. IM NOT HUGE KENMAAAA! i would bet on hormones.. that’s a solid theory. No wonder ur in college.. 

**_Applepi 10:30AM :_ ** do I detect sarcasm? Huh. You really that nervous? You’ll do great, ya kno? Just play like you always do. Like the bunch of monster crows that you are. I’m gonna watch it, so show me your scary serves, yea?

**_Freckles 10:30AM :_ ** ahhh I don’t kno if that helps or not hahahahha! Monsters, huh? So we’ve been told.. But thx, I really appreciate it. We’ll show you some awesome floor defense moves we learned from the best ;)

A whistle sounded from his speakers and he looked up at the computer screen, immediately seeing the camera pan across the players starting up their warm-ups. It was Karasuno versus Itachiyama, and he squinted at the screen, picking out Tadashi, Shouyou, Kageyama, and Tsukishima’s forms as they ran through some spiking drills along with the rest of their black-clad team.

He could see Tadashi wearing the number one across his chest with the little line underneath, and he smirked to himself, wondering how his soulmate was getting on with being the captain. They had talked about it at length when he was voted into the role by the others at the end of his second year. Kenma always thought that it proved that Tadashi was more of a leader-type than he gave himself credit for, which always seemed to be a mental roadblock for him. The whistle blew on the screen again and he watched Tadashi approach Itachiyama’s captain, shaking hands for a good game.

Seeing the captains show good sportsmanship before the start of the match triggered Kenma to reminisce a little about the last time they had played against each other back when he was in high school. In Kenma’s third year, Nekoma and Karasuno didn’t end up competing against each other right after their training camp in the Interhigh tournament; because Datekou defeated Karasuno in their prefecture qualifier round. Then, during Kenma’s final spring nationals the following January, Nekoma got bested by Fukurodani in the third round and never got an opportunity to play Karasuno again like they all had promised each other; and true to his word, he was done playing volleyball after high school and preferred to watch instead. 

Graduation came and went, then college started up and Kenma had continued to grow his online presence as a pro-gamer and YouTuber making ‘let’s plays’ and streaming video games. He was able to find a balance to be able to complete his classes and maintain an online presence, with a few hiccups. It was starting to get challenging to record videos and stream games with a random roommate wandering in and out of his camera shots at unpredictable intervals. Since Kenma wasn’t too fond of people, in general, he didn’t really want to try to befriend his compulsory roommate. It was easier to interact with people from the safe distance of the internet and social media. The most logical solution then was to find a new place to live that was bigger and free of roommates. 

While the warm-ups for Karasuno’s match were finishing up, Kenma glanced at his secondary computer monitor and continued his search for suitable housing options. He had saved up a decently large sum of money from making videos, game guides, and streaming over the past year, then used that money to invest in the stock market so he could potentially start his own production company someday soon. It hadn’t taken him very long to become really popular in the gaming community, for reasons he couldn’t really determine yet, but definitely used to his advantage.

Kenma heard another whistle and he refocused on the match’s livestream, seeing that Tadashi was actually up to serve first. It was interesting to see that Tadashi had grown into a really solid, starting lineup player now, as he still wasn’t always on the starting lineup in his second year either. Kenma carefully analyzed his soulmate’s serve, seeing it completely confuse their opponents, floating across the net with no spin, but extra zip. He thought for a moment that it would beam Itachiyama’s number five in the face, and the guy looked like he had thought so too as he flung his arms up wildly to deflect. But the ball zoomed past him and landed inbounds, scoring Karasuno a no-touch service ace. Kenma was increasingly astonished by how fast Tadashi could serve a jump floater.  _ Yep. Scary monsters.  _

The first set was taken by Karasuno, and Kenma spied some really familiar floor defense footwork. Clearly, Tadashi had studied Nekoma’s tactics and gobbled them up like the ravenous crow he was. All of the now third-years were ball connecting experts, never letting it touch the floor. Their underclassmen were actually really solid too like they had been taught those floor defense tactics efficiently. It was a bit surprising to see from Karasuno since they still were monstrously aggressive with their offense strategies.  _ I knew he’d be a solid captain. I wonder what those training regimes look like.. _

The second set was a little dicier and Karasuno lost by two points. Despite the amazing floor defense, their younger teammates weren’t as good at bumping hard serves as Tadashi, Shouyou, and Kageyama were, and the opponents targeted that hole in their defense. 

In the third set, Kenma got to see some really spectacular athletic feats by Shouyou again. His friend flew through the air for one particularly stunning slide-shot so smoothly that Kenma could have sworn he jumped at least half the length of the court to avoid blockers. It made him wonder idly if Shouyou had taken up gymnastics as well as beach volleyball. In the end, despite all their amazing floor defense, infuriating blocking by Tsukishima, and powerful serves by Tadashi and Kageyama, and athletic marvels by Shouyou, Karasuno lost in a deuce. The game had reached 31-33 with Itachiyama winning the match. Karasuno had finished nationals, top three in the nation. Kenma stared at his screen, unblinkingly, shocked that they made it that far in nationals. It was truly an amazing accomplishment. He stretched and closed down the stream, then picked up his phone.

**_Applepi 12:07PM :_ ** so, top three in the nation huh? That’s pretty amazing, Tadashi. You led your team to top three in the nation.. if that doesn’t convince you that you were right for the job, I don’t kno what will. Btw, that floor defense looked really familiar.

Kenma put his phone down lightly on his desk, knowing that it was unlikely that he’d get a text back anytime soon. He swiftly grabbed a snack from his mini-fridge, then went back to his apartment search for a little while. 

It didn’t seem like very much time had passed, but Kenma was so engrossed in his hunt that it got away from him. He looked away from his screens when he heard his phone pinging and deftly snatched it up.

**_New chat message with Kuroo_ **

**_Kuro 12:56PM :_ ** yo kitten, didja watch spring nationals? I betcha did

**_Applepi 12:57PM :_ ** yeah, I watched it

**_Kuro 12:57PM :_ ** pretty impressive boyfriend you got there. Gotta love a good captain, amirite?

**_Applepi 12:58PM :_ ** boyfriend? You know as well as I do that soulmates does not automatically equal lovers, Kuro

**_Kuro 12:59PM :_ ** ouch.. stepped on a landmine, did I? 

**_Kuro 12:59PM :_ ** listen here, puddin’head.. trust me when I say that the soulmate bond is worth it. If you want it, get it. It’s unlike you to take so long to figure out what to do about this.. ya know? 

**_Applepi 1:02PM :_ ** I thnk it’s the distance. It’s like, I know what the quest goal is, but I haven’t unlocked the part of the map that leads to it. So it’s undoable right now? Like I have to wait for dlc that comes with a special weapon or something

**_Kuro 1:03PM :_ ** dude. Just ask him flat out

**_Kuro 1:03PM :_ ** I’m still pissed you didn’t tell me about Daichi btw

**_Applepi 1:04PM :_ ** like I said before..you were gonna figure it out eventually, you live together.. I mean.. cmon. Where’s your sense of adventure

**_Applepi 1:04PM :_ ** besides that was so long ago.. aren’t you glad you figured it out by yourself? It’s a fun story

**_Kuro 1:05PM :_ ** fun for who? I thought Daichi was going into cardiac arrest. Also, I coulda had more time to work that angle if I knew in advance. HEY I see what you did there! Just talk to him dammit

**_Applepi 1:06PM :_ ** Kuro, we’re just really good friends. He’s easy to talk to. He's stuck around for years now as my friend. He’s bright and sweet and smart and loyal. I think he’s too occupied by other things to be interested in following the bond stuff. You know people suck. Why would I ruin a friendship when I have so few of them that I actually like?

**_Kuro 1:07PM :_ ** woooooooooooow.. Kenma, are you in love with him?

**_Applepi 1:10PM :_ ** what? Idk

**_Kuro 1:10PM :_ ** wowie! I can’t believe this! I think you are

**_Applepi 1:11PM :_ ** idk..I hadn’t considered it

**_Kuro 1:11PM :_ ** WOW! This is awesome. Also, I asked Daichi just now. He agrees with me, so, y’know, 2 against 1

Kenma grimaced at his phone, pulling it away from his face and rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand for a moment. Kuroo could be so exhausting, and now many of his arguments involved bolstering his viewpoints by polling his boyfriend and roommates. All this made him even more insufferable at times since he now proclaimed to have peer-supported data on any random topic. Kenma massaged his neck idly, deciding whether or not to just ghost his best friend for a while when a new message popped up.

**_Chat message with Tadashi_ **

**_Freckles 1:14PM :_ ** YEAHHH! TOP THREE! hahaha! Familiar ehhh? I’ll give you two guesses on where I picked them up. But if ur wrong, there will be a penalty

**_Applepi 1:15PM :_ ** very familiar. Penalty? What is it?

**_Freckles 1:16PM :_ ** Yep! I won’t tell you what it is unless you’ve earned it fair and square.

**_Applepi 1:17PM :_ ** people don’t usually want to earn penalties… are you trying to lure me in on intrigue alone?

**_Freckles 1:18PM :_ ** oh? Is it working? 

**_Applepi 1:18PM :_ ** almost. But no. So when did you train up your team on our floor defense? It was a pretty solid replica..

**_Freckles 1:19PM :_ ** haha! I just watched some old videos, worked out the moves.. positioning.. reasoning behind it. Wasn’t too hard from that perspective. I imagine that it must have been a lot more challenging coming up with it on the spot :)

**_Applepi 1:20PM :_ ** I see.. you’re really not continuing volleyball in college either? 

**_Freckles 1:21PM :_ ** Nope :) 

**_Applepi 1:21PM :_ ** what is it? 

**_Freckles 1:22PM :_ ** what is what?

**_Applepi 1:22PM :_ ** what is it that you’re holding back?

**_Freckles 1:23PM :_ ** someday, I’d really like a play by play on how you do that. I found out that I got accepted into the college I applied for in Sendai.

**_Applepi 1:24PM :_ ** oh, that’s great.. why were you holding that back?

**_Freckles 1:24PM :_ ** um no particular reason. Just all the commotion of nationals and all that prbly. I was worried about passing the exams since they took place at a weird time of year

**_Applepi 1:25PM :_ ** right.. that is a little early, isn’t it? 

**_Freckles 1:26PM :_ ** yeah, they have a program that has a flexible start date so I’m going for it soon as I graduate instead of waiting for the normal school year cycle. anyway, what are you doing today?

**_Applepi 1:27PM :_ ** house hunting. I don’t want a roommate 

**_Freckles 1:28PM :_ ** yikes. What did ur roommate do now?

**_Applepi 1:29PM :_ ** nudity.. on screen during a stream.. almost got my account banned

**_Freckles 1:29PM :_ ** hahahhahahahahahaha! He’s an exhibitionist, huh? 

**_Applepi 1:30PM :_ ** just a bit. 

**_Freckles 1:31PM :_ ** oohj Noooo I gotta go!!! team’s out at a restaurant and Suga-san’s here too and him and Tsukki are starting to pick on the underclassmen. This might get ugly. I swear they just rile each other up somehow with all their salt… Suga-san nearly always wins.. i dunno why Tsukki even tries anymore 

**_Freckles 1:31PM :_ ** ffdddjhsh now Kageyama’s causing a scene ugggghjh whyyyyy do vice captains cause so much trouble?! You’ll have to answer that for me later, k? See ya

Kenma gazed at his phone for a minute or two, smiling. Then he glanced back at his computer and caught his reflection in the darkened monitor.  _ Maybe Kuro is right..?  _

Several months later, Kenma found himself standing in a completely new and improved, self-designed, optimized gaming room. It was really just a decked out office, but he had spent a considerable amount of time making sure it had everything exactly how he needed it for gaming, streaming, video production, or anything else necessary. It was also the very first room he made certain was completely finished and ready for use. Kenma felt his stomach rumble and turned to walk down the hall to the kitchen, but paused in the doorway and scanned the room one more time. Something about the stark contrast between all the hard, sleek electronics and older wooden framing and tatami swathed floor was incredibly aesthetically intriguing. He could see himself spending a lot of time in this room.

Finding a new place to rent had taken a lot more time than originally anticipated and it was already nearly New Years'. Despite Kuroo’s nagging that he should find a place in a ritzy area, he decided on a traditional house with three rooms and a large surrounding garden. Besides, it was better than wasting money on living in a glamorous neighborhood for no good reason; he didn’t like to leave his house in the first place.

He finally turned and wandered lazily down the hall, nimbly avoiding randomly stacked cardboard boxes and running his hand lightly across the traditional, paper-laden, sliding doors. His phone pinged in his pocket right as he opened the fridge and he snagged it out to take a look. 

**_Chat message with Tadashi_ **

**_Freckles 3:14PM :_ ** so, how is it?

**_Applepi 3:15PM :_ ** I like it. Got the perfect setup now

**_Freckles 3:16PM :_ ** so, just the one room unpacked and good to go then? I’m almost tempted to reach out to Kuroo-san and make bets on how long it’ll take you to unpack the rest.

**_Applepi 3:17PM :_ ** oh please no.. 

**_Freckles 3:18PM :_ ** haha! I’m jk

**_Applepi 3:18PM :_ ** thats a relief.. I was genuinely worried for a second there. 

**_Freckles 3:19PM :_ ** hahaha! Sorry, sorry.. my bad. So what do you like the most about the house? It’s a house you’re renting now, right? 

**_Applepi 3:20PM :_ ** probably the tatami. Yea it’s a house, has a nice garden too.. you still in that apartment? 

**_Freckles 3:21PM :_ ** Yep! It’s not too bad. Tatami huh? That sounds comforting. OH did you talk to Hinata??? He’s leaving soon

**_Applepi 3:22PM :_ ** yea he’s going to visit Tokyo before he goes. Guess he really stuck with the beach idea, right? 

**_Freckles 3:23PM :_ ** Yep. Seems crazy.. but ya kno, also completely him. He’s going to do amazing things 

**_Applepi 3:23PM :_ ** i thnk so too. How’s school goin?

**_Freckles 3:24PM :_ ** good! I’m starting an internship with a company soon before mybe joining full time once i graduate. It’s pretty fast paced tho. Tsukki says I need to slow down and just finish it when I finish it.. but I feel like I just have to be moving forward, ya kno? Reach a plateau of normalcy? Does that make sense? I don’t kno how to describe it, nvm. How abt you?

**_Applepi 3:25PM :_ ** plateau of normalcy, huh? You’ve always been really introspective, did you kno that? What’s your degree again? Mines going fine, I’m just finishing up the classes at my own pace since I’m juggling it with the gaming stuff, but I’ve started up that production company too. It launches in the new year 

**_Freckles 3:26PM :_ ** introspective??? Nah! Well mybe. Is that important???? Electrical engineering… UR COMPANY IS READY TOGO?! that’s amazing Kenma! 

**_Applepi 3:27PM :_ ** not really tho.. it’s just slapping a name brand on the things I’ve been doing as an individual so I can market it differently and make more money off the things I already do……. it makes the most sense to do it this way

**_Freckles 3:28PM :_ ** hahahahha! And you’ve said I’m scary! It’s still really cool, congratulations :)

Kenma felt a tickle in his nose and sneezed. Brows furrowed, he closed his fridge door and grabbed a bag of chips instead. Right as he was heading back to his new gaming room, the doorbell rang. He paused and stared at the front door idly before shuffling over and opening it a crack, peeking through the narrow space.

“Hi, Kenma! Long time no see!” Shouyou’s bright presence suddenly shone right in and Kenma opened the door all the way.

“Shouyou! You’re here already?” Kenma greeted him, moving aside so his friend could come in out of the cold. Shouyou practically skipped inside, taking his shoes off, but being careful not to get snow on the floor. 

“Your yard’s like a winter wonderland! I didn’t even know Tokyo got this much snow?!” Shouyou chirped happily, looking around the house curiously.

Kenma gestured for him to follow and they headed towards the living room, “it’s not usually this much, I dunno.”

Shouyou glanced around excitedly as they went, “wow, your new place is huge! I’m surprised you didn’t rent a house in Roppongi hills! Are those real arcade games?! Is that a home theatre?!” 

“The house is old but fine. It’s just my game room..” Kenma said blandly, “why is it that as soon as you make some money, everybody’s like, ‘go live in Roppongi hills!’.. Kuro said the same thing to me..”

They sat down under a kotatsu, finally making it to the living room and Kenma poured some hot water for tea from a kettle he kept ready by the table. Shouyou beamed at him and accepted a cup, his attention still wandering around the space.

“Hey, Kenma?” Shouyou said quietly, zoning in on his face, “I really super appreciate it and all, but.. why’d you decide to be my sponsor?”

Kenma thought about it for a second, then replied simply, “hmm, just cause? I mean, why not? I have the money.” 

Shouyou blinked back at him blankly like he was processing, and Kenma took a sip of his tea.

“But.. if you ever get boring.. I’ll drop you,” Kenma tucked a few strands of his hair that had fallen out of his tie back behind his ear, then smiled at Shouyou. He didn’t think that his friend would ever be boring and knew that he’d be really successful someday too. These were the real reasons why he had decided to sponsor Shouyou and help him afford to travel to Brazil to train in beach volleyball. He knew he wouldn’t see much of a return on the investment in his friend immediately, especially in a foreign market, but it still seemed worth it. Shouyou was going to be a big deal in the future; of that, Kenma had no doubts. 

Shouyou gazed back at him stupefied for a second, then relaxed and laughed, “you’re the best, Kenma!” 

“Pfft!” Kenma huffed, “so, when’s your flight?”

“Oh! In a week! Aaannnnd I’m lucky enough that Tadashi is letting me stay with him a few days before and he’s taking me to the airport! I get a send off!” Shouyou said, smiling. 

“Ah, your flights out of Sendai then? That’s nice someone will take you.. what about Tsukishima or uh.. Yachi?” Kenma asked, wondering about Shouyou’s other friends. He knew that Kageyama lived in Tokyo now, with Kuroo, Daichi, Suga, and Bokuto, so he was out of the equation at the moment. 

“Tsu-Tsukki? No, he wouldn’t. Yacchan’s studying design in Tokyo now, actually! But y’know, I’m just super mega ultra happy that Tadashi will send me off. He’s the best, y’know? So I’m not worried about anything else! Though traveling so far is a little scary. I haven't been on a plane before either.. but two years isn’t that long!” Shouyou rambled slightly, and Kenma tilted his head at his friend’s strained, then wiped-clean expression like he flipped a switch between modes.

“I see.. yeah, he’s great,” Kenma said idly, still distracted while analyzing Shouyou’s weird mood shift.  _ That’s strange. Something must be bothering him beyond moving to a foreign country.. which should be enough, really.. what is it? _

“Ooohhh, I knew it. I knew you thought so too,” Shouyou gleefully yelped all of a sudden.

“Huh?” Kenma responded, shaking himself of his thoughts.

“So, when didja guys finally get together?! Took long enough, geez,” Shouyou said, taking a sip of his tea and looking pleased as punch like he had won some sort of personal victory.

“Uh.. what?” Kenma asked, still confused.

“You said he’s great.. you’re finally together now, right? You and Tadashi.. y’know, your soulmate, Kenma..” Shouyou answered with his brows furrowed and scrutinizing Kenma’s face. It was a little comical to see him looking so serious which made Kenma smile.

“No, we’re not dating, Shouyou. We’re friends,” he answered the other, suddenly connecting the dots that his relationship with Tadashi maybe looked a lot more involved from an outside perspective than it really was. They had actually never discussed the soulmate phenomenon apart from when Tadashi informed him of it in the first place. Kenma couldn’t decide at that moment if that was abnormal or not. He didn’t have a good enough field for comparison to make any solid assumptions.

Shouyou made a sour face, “whaaaat? How can that be though, you guys are like.. attached at the hip..? You’re always talking to him, aren’tcha?”

“Well, yeah, I suppose so.. but, we’re just friends. I was under the impression that he’s always had someone else in mind anyway,” Kenma replied quietly. Maybe it was something in the air, a seasonal thing, that made people hyper-aware of romance recently. 

“Someone else.. in mind?” Shouyou gazed at him in confusion, “I think… you’re wrong about that. Who?”

Kenma raised his eyebrows slightly at Shouyou’s blunt denial, “hasn’t it always been Tsukishima?”

Shouyou looked like he stopped functioning, complete shutdown, as he stared back at Kenma with a glazed, blank look coating his face. Kenma waited a few seconds, peering back at him with concern growing in the back of his mind, and was just about to physically intervene when Shouyou fidgeted suddenly with his fingers and said, “I-I wouldn’t know anything a-about that. But.. after spending the last three years with them on the daily…” 

He paused then like he was rebooting and recounting all of his interactions with his friends and Kenma just sat patiently, waiting to see what he’d say. Shouyou took just a moment longer with that concentrated expression, then it melted into something more open and genial, “nah.. I really don’t think so. They’re super close, sure, but I’ve never seen anything that would make me think that they were together that way.” 

Kenma nodded a few times, not sure what to say to such an honest sounding declaration.  _ But I know that at one point, they were together that way, at least partially. So did that really end back at that first training camp? Did Tadashi really move on? I hadn’t thought so, with how he mentions him.. but if Shouyou is so convinced, it makes me think that maybe it’s true. Maybe I have leveled up enough now. _

“Maybe you should ask him out,” Shouyou said, completely recovered from his earlier stress. He leaned forward, putting his elbows on the kotatsu, and rested his cheeks in his hands, “whatcha think?”

Kenma thought for a moment that the other must have read his mind, but brushed away the idea. Regardless of how socially intuitive Shouyou was, he couldn’t really know everything for certain. He just must be naturally good at making calculated guesses when it comes to people. 

“Mmmnn.. I dunno,” Kenma finally replied with a little shrug. Despite his non-committal response, Shouyou smirked back at him looking satisfied.


	14. YT

Tadashi walked up to a traditional-style Japanese house with a really nice surrounding garden. He hoped he was at the right place, and it matched the address he was given, but he was unfamiliar with Tokyo. The electronics company that he had the internship through requested that he worked in their Tokyo branch for a couple of weekends as they wanted him to see how the different locations operated. Luckily, the company housed him in a hotel for the weekend, but it was still a little strange to be navigating Tokyo by himself. He hadn’t been in Tokyo since his last volleyball tournament which was well over a year ago since it was nearly June. 

Ringing the doorbell, he mused to himself that maybe he should drop in on Kageyama and Suga-san, since he was planning on visiting Yacchan too.  _ I wonder if Kenma would want to meet up while I’m here... it’s been about two and a half years since we last saw each other in person. Wait, has it really been that long? That’s so strange to think about.. we talk basically every day. Wow, I guess I’m just completely used to the texting thing we do.. _

The front door opened a crack, startling Tadashi from his thoughts, and he said quickly, “h-hi! I’m here from Solarstar Electronics to fix your setup issues?”

Then the door swung wide open and he was met with a very familiar face. Kenma stood there, staring at him with his big, golden eyes and mouth drifting open slowly like he thought that maybe Tadashi wasn’t really there in actuality. He brought his hand up to tuck some of his disheveled, half-bottle-blonde dyed hair behind his ear and said, hushed, “Tadashi?”

“Kenma,” Tadashi said back, then felt a smile building up on his face, “you, uh, live here? I’m supposed to fix a setup.. um, at this address?”

Tadashi felt more than just a little bewildered at this situation, and it was very strange seeing Kenma in person as they had just talked with each other through text earlier that day while he rode the train to Tokyo. Although, he hadn’t mentioned that he would be in Tokyo since he wasn’t sure what the company would be asking of him to do specifically and wanted to get an idea of that first before making extra plans. All these little details started melding together, making it very clear why Kenma looked like a deer in headlights; standing as if fossilized in his casual-looking joggers and a red, oversized hoodie. 

“Oh. Solarstar. That’s why that sounded so familiar…” Kenma said absently, then shifted to the side to allow Tadashi to enter. Tadashi followed the other’s lead and walked in, taking off his shoes and leaving them by the entryway. Kenma closed the door then moved towards a room hidden behind a latticed, paper-lined, sliding door, “uh, the equipment’s in here.. there’s a connection issue somewhere, I couldn’t find the source..?”

Tadashi nodded at him in understanding, then followed Kenma as he slid the door open and went inside. It turned out to be a type of office that was tricked out to the max with screens, a sizable looking computer, gaming consoles, and other miscellaneous electronics and equipment. 

“Whoa.. okay. Show me which part of the setup is having issues?” Tadashi asked lightly, taking in, and cataloging everything. Kenma nodded, then showed him the specific connection issue his computer was having with some other streaming equipment, “gotcha, do you mind if I-“

“No, go right ahead,” Kenma replied, obviously watching him like a hawk. But for some reason, Tadashi got the impression that it wasn’t because the other thought he would mess up his setup somehow. Tadashi smiled a bit and nodded again, then got completely distracted by the electronics. He deftly meddled with the stream deck, computer settings, and even the microphones before he found the hiccup in the system and sorted it all out. Tadashi stood back up from his bent, craning position around the desk after about five minutes, then looked around to see if Kenma had gone anywhere. He immediately caught his soulmate’s eyes as they were already trained on him intently. Kenma hadn’t moved an inch and was standing there with his arms crossed casually, watching Tadashi work.

“Ah.. it’s fixed. You can test it if you want..but I ran a.. check.. already,” Tadashi said, filling the quiet void. 

“That was quick,” Kenma responded, his expression still mild and unreadable. 

Tadashi scratched the back of his head idly, then said, “yeah.. just a few miswired things.. and unsynced programs..it was probably the new microphone that did it..” Kenma just nodded along silently.

“M’kay! Well, that’s it, I guess? Feel free to call the company back if you develop any other issues with your setup-“ 

“Stay,” Kenma said softly, then he checked his smartwatch before looking back into Tadashi’s face, “I have a stream scheduled for eight.. but, will you stay a little while?”

“Oh! Um.. I don’t see why I couldn’t.. but probably not on the clock,” Tadashi replied, knowing that Kenma didn’t mean that he wanted to wait until his stream to make sure the setup was really functional again, but Tadashi couldn’t help but say it anyway.

“Pfft! Haha!” Kenma let out a laugh, “you know that’s not what I meant, Tadashi.”

Tadashi smiled again, putting his hands on his hips, “I know.”

“We haven’t seen each other in so long.. let’s just.. catch up?” Kenma said, sounding a little perplexed.

Tadashi knew the feeling, and it made him smile a little wider, “we talked just a few hours ago..” he looked around the room a little then refocused on Kenma’s pretty face, “you know, the tatami is really nice.. and you were totally right about the garden outside, very pretty.”

“Mmhmm, I really like it here,” Kenma agreed, “let’s have some tea? You want snacks? Watch a match? Play some games?”

Tadashi nodded, “sure, we can do whatever you want.” 

He didn’t know what he kept saying to cause his soulmate to react this way, but Kenma just stared, looking like he was trying to solve the mystery of life itself. But he snapped out of it, whatever it was, a moment later and wandered out of the room. Tadashi followed, not wanting to lose sight of Kenma or be rude by loitering around his house alone. 

“I’m gonna grab a few things, you can wait in the living room if you want,” Kenma quietly commented and gestured to the open living room space they were passing. Tadashi could see the kitchen just beyond, divided by more of those traditional sliding doors.

“Okay, i'll wait, want me to put a match on?” Tadashi asked while turning into the living room, but watching Kenma keep his own languid pace to the kitchen. He heard a hum of agreement come from the latter, then he plopped down on the small couch, turning on the TV that he noticed was also connected to a computer. He opened a browser and found an old volleyball match from the last Kurowashiki tournament to watch that happened to have Kageyama setting for the Adlers v-league team. Tadashi started the match up and Kenma reappeared a minute later, arms laden with various snack foods and bottles of cold tea. Tadashi raised his eyebrows slightly at the sight and sprang up to help before Kenma lost it all to gravity. 

He sat back down, accepting a tea that Kenma held out for him to take and he opened it, taking a sip. Kenma finished arranging the snacks how he wanted, then came right over to the small couch too and plunked down right next to Tadashi, despite there being plenty of other seating options. Tadashi idly wondered why this seemed so familiar, sitting close to Kenma. Wherever the nostalgia came from, it was thrumming serenely around making him feel completely at ease.  _ I’m so surprised. I thought maybe it would be hard to be with him in person, but he really doesn’t seem different at all. Maybe I was creating a problem from the start? Blowing things up unnecessarily? That must be it. Ugh, leave it to me to make a fuss over nothing. Really though, other than a little quiet, he’s the same.  _

They watched for a few minutes, then Kenma shifted and started yanking his hoodie off, but it got snagged in his hair somehow and he hissed in annoyance. Tadashi watched as he struggled for a second, tugging harder and harder until the fabric was stuck awkwardly around his head.

“Ah! Wait, here..” Tadashi jumped in, carefully untangling the strands that had gotten twisted up in the drawstring of the hood. When he finally separated Kenma from the clothing, he looked back into the other’s disgruntled face and snickered, “you got all tied up. Your hair’s gotten so long, y’know?”

Tadashi unconsciously sifted his fingers through Kenma’s hair, loosening the rest of the tangles caused by the struggle with the string. Half of it was pulled out of his hair tie at this point, so Tadashi just pinched the tie and dragged it out gently, letting the hair cascade down fully. Kenma peered back at him silently but didn’t budge, and Tadashi took that as permission to continue his unsolicited help. He took the little, stretchy fabric tie and threaded it onto his wrist, then started gathering up Kenma’s hair. Taking his time to smooth out any leftover knots, he carefully pulled it back and slipped the tie around. It really had gotten quite long as it was easily at his shoulders. The blonde slowly growing out, being taken over by dark black. Tadashi twisted it around until all of the silky strands were secured into a neat, low knob.

“There ya go, all better. Crisis averted,” Tadashi said softly, smiling at his handiwork, then put his hands back in his lap and refocused back on the match.

“..thanks,” Kenma replied, and Tadashi could see he was still peering at him curiously instead of watching the match too.

Tadashi glanced back at him for a beat, then looked back at the screen, witnessing Kageyama make an amazing setter’s dump, “yeah, of course, what are uh.. friends for..”

Kenma just hummed, then turned back to the screen, “mmmnn he has a nastily villainous way of knowing exactly when to use those..”

“Yeah, he does..I was always glad I didn’t have to try to bump them... but, you were always really sneaky about them too, from what I remember,” Tadashi answered, shifting his attention to Kenma briefly to flash him a smile.

The other looked back and nodded slowly, smiling slightly in return, “I won’t deny it. I remember.”

Tadashi grinned then and muttered, “yep.”

They watched for a long while, getting absorbed in the game and talking out the strategies and mind games that Kageyama used to completely annihilate his opponents. Tadashi felt really comfortable in that easy, pleasant atmosphere, watching something so enjoyable and a little diverting while talking to Kenma without any prickling anxiety. At first, he thought it might be hard to be around Kenma without the filter that his phone had become, but he realized pretty quickly that he had stopped filtering himself a long time ago. He could let go, and not worry about saying something stupid around Kenma, because it just didn’t seem to happen. His soulmate just took in everything he said at face value and responded in kind, even if done so quietly. Tadashi had learned in high school how to navigate talking to people without worrying as much, especially since he was basically forced into becoming the captain of his volleyball team; but communicating with Kenma always felt different, straightforward. Ultimately, the realization that it should have been obvious that it would feel this way in person too was glaring at him from the back of his mind. 

Tadashi saw Kenma check his watch out of his periphery, then the latter paused the game before saying, “it’s almost eight, I gotta go set up the stream. I don’t mind if you stay, or whatever. But it’ll be until midnight..”

“Oh, nice! I’ll just stay a little while then, I’m kinda interested in seeing you in action,” Tadashi replied simply. Kenma raised his eyebrows a little, then shrugged and got up, heading towards the gaming room. Tadashi followed him and silently watched as the other messed around with settings, checked camera angles, and got his stream up and primed to go. 

Kenma then looked back at Tadashi momentarily before slipping on his headphones, which happened to have a very cutesy set of cat ears perched on top. Kenma gazed at him for a moment like he knew some sort of comment was coming and Tadashi laughed, throwing his hand up in front of his mouth in a poor attempt to hide it. 

“Nice ears,” he snickered, taking in Kenma’s bland, expectant expression.

“Hey, they’re cute. Viewers like them,” Kenma grumbled, turned away towards his screen. Tadashi smiled, gazing at Kenma’s back as he was clearly about to start the stream.

“Mmhmm, very cute,” Tadashi said quietly, leaning back against one of the shelves to watch Kenma like he was waiting in the wings of a stage production, “they suit you.”

Kenma just swiveled his head around briefly, giving him a lazy, lopsided smirk, then gestured his thumb at the screen. Tadashi took that to mean he was starting it up and he made a quick zipping motion with his hand across his mouth, still smiling back. 

Only a few minutes into the stream, Tadashi suddenly realized he was starting to get hungry. It dawned on him that they’d watched volleyball for quite a bit of time before the stream, but only grazed on snacks. He groaned to himself, now wondering if Kenma always ate like that, or if he actually prepared meals properly for himself. He roamed his eyes over Kenna’s figure, taking in how engrossed he was in his stream so far, and decided not to disturb him.

He slipped out of the room, then the house silently and headed out to a small, family-owned restaurant he remembered seeing earlier that day and ordered some take-out. Then, just as silently as before, went back into Kenma’s place and left a good-sized portion for his soulmate on his kitchen counter. He didn’t really want to linger around the house while Kenma was so wrapped up in his stream as it felt a little strange, so he soundlessly left again to head back to the hotel. He pulled out his phone along the way as he walked.

**_Chat message with Kenma_ **

**_Me 9:03PM :_ ** thanks for showing me your stream setup :) 

**_Me 9:03PM :_ ** I left something for you in the kitchen.. don’t leave it out all night, k? It was nice, catching up

  
He heaved a tired sigh and put his phone back in his pocket, already nearly at his hotel. Since Kenma was a popular presence in the gaming world, Tadashi knew he didn’t like to disrupt his streaming to check his phone. He hoped that Kenma would see the message eventually and the food wouldn’t go to waste.  _ Ah, maybe I should have put it in the fridge. _


	15. KK

Kenma walked down the hall to Kuroo’s apartment sluggishly. He was hungry and ran out of suitable things to snack on at his place, but knew there would probably be a plentiful bounty waiting for him in just a few minutes. He reached the front door and rang the bell, checking his phone while he waited. It was a good opportunity to respond to something Tadashi was saying earlier since he hadn’t had a chance to reply due to recording a ‘let’s play’ and editing.

**_Chat message with Tadashi_ **

**_Freckles 3:10PM :_ ** and then the guy told me that it was my fault his cable pin snapped. What?!?! Excuse me, sir! You called ME after it was broken so I could FIX it.. what is that? Srsly. Good thing my company thought it was ridiculous too. They’re sending me out to Tokyo again tomorrow, btw

**_Freckles 3:11PM :_ ** oh! I forgot to tell you, but you’ll never guess what Shouyou says they’ve started calling him over in Rio.. didja see the pic Oikawa-san posted?! I dunno if ur friends with him or not on that app

**_Applepi 4:04PM :_ ** that’s why I don’t like people. Well, most of them anyway. It’s so much easier to deal with situations like that over an email.. but i guess you wouldn’t be able to fix stuff that way every time, huh? 

**_Applepi 4:04PM :_ ** wait.. what are they calling Shouyou??? I didn’t see the pic, whos Oikawa? Why does that sound familiar?

**_Freckles 4:05PM :_ ** they’re calling him ‘ninja Shouyou’ lol! So, that means he must be adapting to that sand just fine right?! Ah.. that makes me so relieved… I was seriously worrying about him for the longest time after he left! Mybe you wouldn’t know Oikawa-san I guess cuz he’s from Sendai.. he was a huge prefecture rival of ours in volleyball back in high school. 

**_Freckles 4:06PM :_ ** oh! He’s also Kageyama’s and Suga-san’s third soulmate! I’m kinda surprised you never ran into him before he left Japan, actually, now that I’m thinking about it. Cuz I’m pretty sure he was in Tokyo quite a bit with them right after Suga-san moved in with Kuroo-san. He’s been in Argentina for awhile now. So anyway, he and Shouyou ran into each other in Rio and they posted this hilarious pic. Remind me to show it to you later, k?

**_Applepi 4:06PM :_ ** ninja Shouyou, huh? I bet that would be interesting to watch. I’m gonna find some beach volleyball streams.. yeah, Oikawa.. didn’t Shouyou always call him the great king or something? 

**_Freckles 4:06PM :_ ** Hahahaha! That’s right!! I almost forgot abt that!! I wonder if he still does.. prbly! XD

Kenma smiled and mused to himself about how fast Tadashi could type on a phone. Just a second later, Suga answered the door, pulling it open and peering out into the hall.

“Hi Kenma! Come in, come in! Thought I heard the bell,” Suga smiled and let Kenma in, then started walking towards the kitchen.  _ Perfect. _

Kenma followed the other, hastily kicking off his shoes along the way, and found his destination. He opened the fridge door and began rummaging around for something that looked easy to reheat. It was a marvel that there was always, without fail, something really tasty to discover in there.

“Feel free to whatever you find-“ Suga began but stopped when he clearly realized Kenma was already arms deep in random containers.

“What’s this?” Kenma asked and pulled out a clear container, then squinted through the side, seeing rice or something.

“Pork fried rice, go ahead, Tobio made extra last night because he thought Koutarou would be here too, but he apparently had other plans..” Suga answered, and Kenma peeked out from behind the door at him. Suga had sat down at their little kitchen table and was already mostly consumed by something on his laptop. Kenma stood up fully and closed the fridge, found a plate on the drying rack, and dumped some of the contents of the container onto it. He swiftly popped it in the microwave and pressed a few buttons. After tossing the container back in the fridge, he leaned back on the counter edge and sighed lightly to himself, analyzing the tiled floor nonchalantly while the microwave faintly hummed behind him.

“What’s up, kitten? Why the long face,” Kuroo’s voice suddenly called out and Kenma snapped his eyes up, seeing his best friend walking into the kitchen area too, “dontcha have a steam today?”

“Mmmmnnn, tomorrow. Tadashi showed up at my place a few days ago,” Kenma answered quietly.

“Oh, you guys finally workin’ it out?” Suga asked lightly, glancing up from his laptop to catch Kenma’s eyes for a moment.

Kenma gazed back for a second, then looked away towards the floor again, “mmn.. I dunno. No?”

“Well.. what happened? It’s been a while since he’s been in Tokyo.. and we all know you never leave your house..” Kuroo commented, and Kenma glanced back up at him, seeing a perplexed look on his face.

“Uh.. his internship.. at that IT company.. I guess they have a Tokyo branch and he was here for it. I called them ‘cause I had an issue with my setup and they happened to send Tadashi,” Kenma relayed, casually looking between the others. Suga just stared back, brows slowly furrowing, and Kuroo tilted his head in question. Since neither of them decided to comment, Kenma continued quietly, “it was weird. He didn’t know it was my house either.. and I forgot that the name of the company was the same as his..anyway, he fixed my setup in like, four minutes.”

“Sure kitten, it’s nice to know he’s incredible with the devices and all that.. but what happened?” Kuroo pressed, still laser-focused on him.

“Mmmnn.. I asked him to stay, he did. We watched volleyball. Then I had a stream and he stayed while I started it up… and he snuck out sometime during it,” Kenma recalled, eyes drifting to the ceiling while he ticked off the events out loud to his friends, “oh, he got me take-out. Left it in the kitchen for me. That was nice.”

“Soooo,” Suga said, really extending the word, “what do you want to do about that then?”

“That’s the question, I guess,” Kenma drawled, looking at Suga. Light beeping drew his attention away and he zoned in on it, spinning around and snagging his plate out of the microwave. He brought it over to the table and sat next to Suga, who was still eyeing him suspiciously. The food looked amazing, even for leftovers, and he took a few bites, savoring the deliciousness and humming ‘mmm’ before saying, “where can I find one of these?”

“I think you already have and are draggin’ your feet for some reason..” Suga said, eyeing him for a second longer, then returning his attention to his screen, “you can’t have mine.”

“Are you really not going to do anything about this?” Kuroo finally spoke up. He had been eerily quiet up until then and Kenma glanced at him, mid-bite. He was still standing in the entryway of the kitchen, hands on his hips, and openly scrutinizing Kenma. He gave Kenma a very stern look once he had his full attention, “okay, lemme be serious for a moment here.. Kenma, friends or whatever, the guy cares for you. You’ve been really close for ages.. hell, I think you talk to him nearly twice more than with me! I don’t personally know him very well, but I do happen to know you.. and I  _ know _ you know him like the back of your hand, or maybe a wrist, perhaps? Think about it, will he make a move on you or not? Let’s say he does, but when? I don’t know what his deal is, but you’re both ridiculous. I know you’re in love with him. Ask. Him. Out. Already.”

Kenma stared at him wide-eyed, spoon hovering in the air idly.  _ Whoa.. Kuro must be pretty serious if he’s ranting like that.. would Tadashi ask me out? I don’t even know if he feels that way about me or not… probable or improbable?  _

He lowered it after a beat then replied, “I’ll work on it.” 

The next day happened to be Saturday, and Kenma sat at his computer chair looking over his screen. He had just ended his stream for the day and now could do anything. A new game just came out and he received a digital code for it earlier in the morning. He wanted to get through the tutorial before streaming it, so he activated the code and started the download. His eyes flicked to the little download bar, seeing it slowly increase, and his thoughts started wandering to Tadashi and the soulmate bond.  _ Probable? Can I figure out how he feels without having to ask him? Can I do it in a way that wouldn’t potentially ruin our friendship if it turns out he doesn’t see me that way or if he doesn’t want to do anything about the bond? _

He focused back on the bar and it ticked up to eighty-one percent, but he quickly opened up his connectivity app on his desktop and clicked through the settings until he found the factory reset button for the router. He clicked it before he could change his mind, and his internet connection went out in a blink.

He pulled out his phone and made a quick call to Solarstar Electronics, specifically requesting Tadashi since he did such a great job the previous time. The company’s secretary on the phone seemed really pleased and informed Kenma that someone would be out to his house in about half an hour. 

Kenma looked down at what he was wearing. It was a large black, slight v-neck shirt that was definitely too big on him as it was hanging a bit too loosely around his shoulders, and some mixed grey and white joggers, plus the cat-ears headphones. He scoffed at himself and took the headphones off, noting that his hair tie was still doing its job; but he decided the other clothing items were probably fine. Now that he was thinking about it, he had a hard time placing what Tadashi usually wore, as he wasn’t too interested in fashion. However, he realized a little belatedly that he always thought Tadashi looked good. Very tall, broad-shouldered, fit, with a pleasing, attractive face, and light-catching green-hazel eyes; and of course, the distractingly charming freckles. Kenma thought back to when the latter had stooped to use his computer before, just a week ago, and wondered how tall his soulmate had gotten exactly. He would guess it was at least six-foot, but maybe more. Kenma never got past five-seven himself but wasn’t really bothered by any of that in general.  _ Huh. I really am into him.. how did that escape my notice? _

The doorbell rang and he briskly went to the door, opening it up a crack and spying out.

“Hey, Kenma,” Tadashi smiled and gave a little sheepish wave, “I heard you’re having connection issues again? I literally got off the train about twenty minutes ago.. weird timing, right?”

Kenma smiled back softly, and moved aside, gesturing for Tadashi to come inside. Tadashi followed him, took off his shoes, then looked towards the gaming room before saying, “mind if I just go and check it out, then? How long have you been having the connection problem? Didn’t you have a stream today, too? Oh, here..” and he handed Kenma a small, mysterious, paper bag.

“Umm.. not long,” Kenma replied, artfully feigning innocence, “please, feel free.. thanks.”

Tadashi nodded and gave Kenma’s shoulder a squeeze as he walked by, then disappeared into the gaming room. Kenma closed the front door and leaned back against it for a few moments. He peeked inside the bag and discovered a few delicious looking pastries. They looked suspiciously like apple turnovers. Apparently, Tadashi was a force to be reckoned with, which was a fact Kenma already knew as he knew the guy very well. But it was suddenly ten times more distracting when he was fully aware that he looked at Tadashi through a different lens than just friendship. He figured that he’d been using that more-than-friends lens for quite a while, but being completely self-aware of it was a new type of challenge. Tacking down the exact emotion was difficult. It wasn’t nervousness like he felt around strangers, but it was sort of a thrumming sensation. He concluded that it must be something like excitement, or butterflies as some people called it.

“Kenmacat! Your router got reset to factory… how did that happen? Anyway, it’s all set up again!” Tadashi abruptly called from the gaming room. Kenma blinked and looked towards the doorway of the room, just realizing that he had spaced out and had not followed Tadashi.  _ Ah. There’s that nickname again. Are you going to get embarrassed again that it slipped out like last time? _

Tadashi’s head suddenly popped out of the doorframe, like a floating apparition and Kenma laughed, then answered, “hah! You look disembodied like that.. uh, router trouble, huh? No idea. Thanks for getting it all back in order.. and, uh, for these.”

Tadashi stepped out of the room fully and came closer, eyes drifting from Kenma to the front door and back, “do you want me to get out of your hair?”

“No. Um, actually, I just got a code for this newly released game.. wanna stay with me while I get through the tutorial? I’m going to stream it later..” Kenma asked quietly, still a little distracted by taking in Tadashi’s presence.

“Yeah, sure!” Tadashi smiled, and Kenma nodded and headed to the living room where he could both sit with Tadashi and play the game from the comfort of the couch. The latter spoke up again as they walked, “you know, the company asked me to do a full eval on your setup, since this is the second connection issue you’ve reported.. but everything seems completely functional.”

“Mmmmmnn… dunno,” Kenma responded lightly and turned on various devices while Tadashi sat down on the couch. Kenma set down the paper bag on the coffee table, plopped down right next to his soulmate, and turned to him before asking, “do you want tea?”

Tadashi smiled genially back at him, “how about I make it and you can start up the game? How long’s the tutorial, anyway?”

Kenma gave him a shrug as if to say ‘whatever works’, and Tadashi snagged the small, portable kettle that was already on the table, turning it on. Kenma loaded up the game, seeing that it had finished downloading since Tadashi fixed the setup, “they're always different depending on the game, but this one’s a long RPG type, so probably an hour?”

“Sounds fun!” Tadashi replied, pouring the hot water into cups, then resting back against the couch lazily. Now that Kenma was really analyzing him, Tadashi looked worn out like he had been pushing himself too much. It made sense then, why he looked extremely satisfied to just lounge back and relax. Kenma felt the corners of his mouth lifting while he gazed at the other, and he turned his attention back at the TV screen, hearing the game music start blaring dramatically. 

They lazed for a little while, Kenma tapping away on his controller, managing to get through the entire tutorial. Tadashi simply sat back and watched, commenting occasionally at particularly outrageous characters or moves. Kenma loved how Tadashi always had something congenial to say about anything, no matter if it really interested him or not. He saw the other check his phone out of his periphery, then they said, “it’s already seven, want me to order a pizza?”

Kenma paused his game for a moment, “oh, really? Yeah, that sounds great. You okay, staying this long?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. It’s fine. I’m kinda on-call, so if they call, I go. But it’s after work hours now anyway,” Tadashi answered but with most of his attention on his phone. He held it up to his ear a second later, “yes, hi! Can I get a large margherita and side salad?... no, thanks… yes, please, thanks… yeah it’s-“

Kenma turned back to the screen, huffing a laugh to himself, and unpaused his game; clearly, Tadashi would just take care of everything.  _ You’re so assertive and shy at the same time.. what an enigma.  _

A boss battle suddenly erupted and Kenma got engrossed in it, barely noticing that Tadashi had left the living at some point and was back with dinner. The latter gently put his hand on Kenma’s shoulder to get his attention, “Kenma, let’s eat while it’s hot.”

They enjoyed the pizza in the kitchen, and Kenma asked a few times if Tadashi wanted to do something else other than watching him play games, but he waved him off every time. Kenma decided to check one last time before sitting back down on the couch, “you’re sure? It’s not too boring?”

“Hm? Nah it’s totally fine! You do this for a living, Kenmacat, of course it’s entertaining..” Tadashi said simply and plopped back down comfortably in the corner of the couch against the armrest. Kenma stared back at him for a second, then nodded slowly and sat down too. 

He played for what seemed like an hour or so but wasn’t really sure as he had lost track of time. All that stiffened sitting in one place started to take its toll and he squirmed, trying to find a more comfortable purchase on the sofa; but he was having a hard time since he was so used to his specialized gaming chairs in the office. He glanced around him and realized that Tadashi was dozing slightly, his eyes half-open, idly watching the gameplay. Kenma smirked and whispered to him, “hey, can I sit with you?”

“Hm? Sure, sure..” Tadashi answered sleepily.

Kenma got up and shifted over, letting himself flop into Tadashi’s lap. The latter just nodded along, clearly zoned out in a kind of sleepy daze, and wrapped his arms around Kenma like it was second nature. Kenma sighed, finally feeling much more comfortable, lounging against a warm body. He knew being close to Tadashi felt right. Especially after he had a strange urge to try it out once before, but he just assumed it was the nudgy soulmate bond. The desire seemed to be spurred on sporadically like he had been taught in school that it could be, but Tadashi really was perfect.  _ Huh. Well, that’s all the information I need. This is definitely what I want.  _

He felt Tadashi slump over slightly a few moments later while he fiddled with his game controller, completing a random quest. He snickered lightly to himself, understanding that Tadashi most definitely fell under the soulmate bond spell for sure and was probably at max comfort level now. He paused his game and turned to check to see if he was right, and came face to face with the other. Up this close, Kenma could really take in those unique, scattered freckles. They were like downloadable content that cost extra, and suddenly, he wanted to map out every single one of them for himself. He traced a finger along a few carefully until Tadashi reflexively scrunched up his nose in his sleep at the tickle. Kenma stopped, not wanting to wake him, and turned back around, taking the controller back up in his hands to accept the next quest.


	16. YT

Tadashi woke up and blinked open his eyes, squinting in the brightly lit room. He frowned, sat up, and looked around. It took a moment before things started clicking into place and he recognized that he was on Kenma’s couch in the living room of his house, in Tokyo, on a Sunday. He reminded himself of all the specifics and refrained from freaking out about waking up in a strange place. He shifted around and pulled a blanket off of himself, habitually folding it. Then he set it aside before standing and stretching out his mildly stiff limbs languidly. He checked his phone which he had left on the coffee table and saw that it was nearly eleven already. Some nervousness crept over him for a millisecond as it was strange for him to sleep in so late and he wondered why it happened. Maybe he had been pushing himself too hard lately with all the trips back and forth between Sendai and Tokyo for the internship as well as balancing his accelerated classes with that. He had only been in college a year and a half but would graduate in no time if he kept this pace. All the added heaviness of everything was starting to make him wonder if it was necessary though, to trudge along so brusquely. He knew in the back of his mind he only did so as a distraction, a way to move forward towards attainable goals and keep other creeping notions at bay. 

He shook his head and groaned at himself for getting so bogged down so early without even fully waking up or having a meal first. It took a while to come to terms with the fact that he really knew exactly how to exhaust himself. Taking a look around the room, he wondered if Kenma was still sleeping maybe, in his own room. But the idea quickly fled his brain when he heard a sudden shout ‘gotcha!’.  _ Ahh.. he had a stream this morning too? _

He silently wandered into the gaming office, and came up behind Kenma’s chair, not really thinking it through as he was distracted by a pair of cute cat-ears. Kenma didn’t seem to notice his presence and was very obviously in the middle of some sort of medieval, fantasy battle with other online players. Tadashi smirked a little at how his soulmate was completely absorbed and eyed the usernames of some of his party members. 

“‘Who’s the hottie?’ What?” Kenma suddenly said, tilting his head to the side curiously as he squinted at his screen, then, “‘real life choose your character’, ‘way to go’? What?.. what are you guys talking about?”

Tadashi peered at the screen too, realizing Kenma was reading aloud the things written in the chatbox of his game. Kenma suddenly slouched back in the chair in obvious confusion then jolted when he caught sight of Tadashi in his own camera feedback window. Tadashi startled too at Kenma’s jostle and the other stared over his shoulder then said quietly, “Tadashi, you’re in my shot..”

“Oh!” He gasped and flung a hand up in front of his face, retreating off to the side by twirling around nimbly.

Kenma glanced back at his screen, “... ‘he’s got moves too’... Pfft ahhaha! He does!”

Tadashi peeked out from between a few fingers and saw Kenma grinning and looking back over at him. He felt the heat rising up around his neck, but Kenma ignored his embarrassment and turned back towards the screen saying calmly, “give me a few,” Then he clicked a few buttons and turned the chair around to face Tadashi.

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t thinking! I completely forgot that you’d be on camera for that!” Tadashi hastily apologized, feeling horrified by such an obvious blunder.

“Mmn? It’s okay, I don’t really mind so much since it’s you..” Kenma said quietly, still gazing at him, smiling impishly, “that twirl was pretty great too..” 

“Ahhhh! Let me make it up to you for disrupting! Let me take you out to lunch today?” Tadashi asked, removing his hand from his face and thinking of anything that could make up for messing with Kenma’s business. 

“Yeah, okay. I’ll be done with this at eleven-thirty, then we can go,” Kenma replied quietly, a smirk creeping onto his face. Tadashi couldn’t figure why he’d look so pleased after just being derailed from his job, but took it as a win that Kenma would go out with him.

“Oh good. Listen, I’m going to go back to my hotel and change first, then I’ll swing back over and pick you up, okay?” Tadashi tacked on, feeling a little grimy. Kenma just smiled vaguely back and nodded, then turned his attention back to his screen. 

Tadashi soundlessly exited, being extra cautious to stay out of the camera angle, and left Kenma’s house. He quickly made his way back to his hotel, showered, changed into a striped, casual t-shirt and some fitted jeans, then went back to pick Kenma up. The timing seemed to work out as Kenma was ready to go when he got there and looked rather hungry. Tadashi was surprised to see Kenma had changed too, and now wore a charcoal gray v-neck tee with some tight black jeans plus red converse. 

They walked along the street from Kenma’s place, and Tadashi stole glances at him as often as he could without getting caught. It was hard not to when the other’s hair was gradually falling loose from his tie, draping very prettily around his face, and swishing lightly in the outdoor air. A good looking ramen shop loomed ahead and Tadashi shook himself from staring, then mumbled, “uh, how about here? You like ramen, right?”

“Sounds good,” Kenma replied, tucking some of those loose strands behind an ear, then turned into the restaurant.

They sat side by side at the bar seating and ate their noodles, with Kenma picking at his sparingly. Tadashi scrutinized his eating habits silently, knowing they were poor and Kenma didn’t eat a lot. At least, if he ate things that were a little more healthy, it shouldn’t be a huge problem.  _ I wonder if I can get away with scoping out his fridge and cabinets to see what he keeps in his house.. _

“So, will you go somewhere with me after this?” Kenma asked abruptly. Tadashi blinked and idly wondered if the other caught him analyzing his bowl. 

“Sure, where do you wanna go?”

“Um, there’s a special edition thing I bought online, but I need to pick it up at the store. They wouldn’t ship it. I’ve been putting it off..” Kenma said, “it comes with a figure, I guess. I’m not super into it, but the figure has a chip in it that interacts with my handheld system and it activates a special weapon.”

“Oh? That sounds interesting. Can you only use the weapon when the figure is there or is it just an activation key?” Tadashi asked curiously, taking another sip of his ramen broth. 

Kenma looked mildly surprised for a moment, then said, “just an activation key. But I guess the figure’s supposed to be cute or something.”

“Hmm, well you don’t have to display it if you don’t want to,” Tadashi replied, smiling at him, “you don’t have a ton of decorations in your gaming room, huh? Simplicity itself has a calming sort of effect, yeah? At least, I think so,” he realized he was rambling a little, but Kenma’s undivided attention tended to pull out little nuggets of information from him effortlessly. Luckily, it didn’t seem like Kenma minded hearing these types of things; or reading them in texts either.

“You know,” Kenma said in his usual hushed tone, “every time I think to myself that I’ve got you totally figured out, you surprise me.”

“Hm?” Tadashi hummed in question, not really understanding what Kenma meant since he was just talking about simple things being peaceful, “oh, I dunno… I think I’m pretty straightforward most of the time nowadays, sorry if I’m not.”

“You never have anything to apologize for ever, Tadashi.. anyway, you look done? Ready to go?” Kenma asked.

“Eh? Sure..” Tadashi responded, a bit bewildered at Kenma being so cryptic.

They found the game store easily enough since Kenma had, in fact, been there before despite not liking to go places by himself if he could avoid it. Tadashi wandered through the store looking around at all the different games and kitschy game stuff while Kenma talked to the clerk and got his item. He started looking through a random game guide for something he thought he’d seen Kenma play, and felt a light tug on his shirt from behind.

“I’m good to go,” Kenma said, hushed, almost whispering. Tadashi glanced around and realized that Kenma looked uncomfortable with the random people browsing around the store. He just nodded and put the guide back, then gestured that Kenma could lead the way out if he wanted. 

Kenma looked relieved and started towards the door when they heard, “oh my god! Are you Kodzuken?!”

They both paused and looked around at the voice, finding that it was just a twenty-something girl with a few of her friends. Kenma peered at her for a moment and looked like he was about to say something when she spoke up again, “I absolutely love your ‘let’s plays’! They’re so funny! And, remember that one time one of your cat ears fell off and you had to fix it? I totally saw your adooooorable tattoo! I’m sure you know that everyone loved it, cause your message board totally blew up! Anyway, we have that in common! I have a cat too! See?” She held up her forearm, flashing a tattoo of a cat that looked more like a bobcat than a stylized house cat.

“Uhhmm.. cute?” Kenma replied, barely loud enough to hear.

The girl didn’t seem derailed in the least by Kenma’s very clear shock at being recognized and approached by a stranger, “yeah! Maybe we should exchange contact info! There should totally be a club for people with cat soulmate tattoos, dontcha think? It could be, like, the cutie kitty committee or something. It would be awesome and you could head it up! Haha!”

Her friends laughed lightly along with her but didn’t bother Kenma themselves. Apparently, her boisterousness alone was enough for everyone involved, but her friends were nodding at her nonsense with interest. Kenma, however, appeared like he was about to implode and sink into the depths of his own social despair. His face looked just one notch shy of stricken, so Tadashi stepped closer to him and said to the fangirl, “that’s a great name! I, uh, know someone who’d really appreciate your talent with naming things! But, um, sorry, we actually need to go. It was nice to meet you! Thanks for watching!” 

He swiftly guided Kenma forward with a hand gently at his back until they were completely out of the store and in the clear. Tadashi gave Kenma some space and put his hands on his hips casually, “wow.. that’s definitely a good reason not to venture out alone, huh? Mr. Popularity.. geez.” 

Kenma still looked like he was reeling slightly from the experience of being verbally mobbed by a single person, and Tadashi decided to just wait for him to even out. It only took a few more seconds since they were now much more secluded in comparison, even on the busy sidewalk. Kenma glanced up at him before saying, “thanks.. I thought she was going to devour me alive.”

“Yeah, anytime.. I thought so too.. scary,” Tadashi commiserated, “‘cutie kitty committee’? Hah! Let me know when you start that project. I’ll join up too,” Then they were laughing together at the ridiculousness of it all. 

Kenma’s soft laughter finally died down and he tipped his head towards the direction of his house. Tadashi just smiled and started walking in that direction, Kenma joining him. Even though it was so busy outside, with people buzzing around minding their own lives, it still felt oddly peaceful walking along with Kenma. However, something was nagging at him in his mind about their encounter with Kenma’s admirer.  _ Soulmate tattoos, huh? I wonder how much attention Kenma gets for ours? I wonder what he does about it online… he doesn’t seem to go out of his way to hide it even though he’s so popular. Of course he’s really popular. He’s so attractive in so many ways. Oh wow, I’m actually feeling jealous of Kenma’s viewers right now?!  _

Tadashi just started ruminating on his feelings when his phone suddenly rang out loudly. He flinched at the disruption and grimaced as he picked it up, “hello?” 

“ _ Hi, Yamaguchi-san! I know it’s Sunday, but you’re not in Tokyo very many days this week and we got a call from someone having a speaker issue. So we’d like you to go take a look,”  _

Tadashi glanced at Kenma, who was looking back at him curiously as they walked along the sidewalk, carefully dodging passersby. As much as he wanted to refuse, since he technically wasn’t supposed to be called on today, he didn’t want to create a problem down the line with the scheduler. He shifted his eyes around the scenery as he answered into his phone, “yes, okay. What’s the address?” 

He listened to the secretary rattle off something or other that he didn’t recognize while he noticed an oncoming stranger griping dramatically into their own phone. They were clearly not watching where they were going and flailing their arms around. Tadashi quickly weaved his free hand around Kenma’s waist and drew him in close right as the stranger was passing, narrowly avoiding a conflict and maybe a bruise. He peered around at the stranger suspiciously while the secretary finished chatting into his ear, then said into his own phone, “Ah, okay, sure! Can you please text me too, so I can plug it into my GPS? Thanks!”

The secretary started giving him more specific details about the speaker issue plus the client's history, and Tadashi listened politely, still resting his arm around Kenma comfortably as they walked. When the secretary finally stopped, he said, “I see, yes. Thank you. I’ll be there in about twenty,” and hung up. 

He paused and glanced back around to Kenma, who was just staring back at him looking dazedly bemused and released him. His phone pinged and he frowned at it, checking the message, before turning back to Kenma, “sorry… that was work, they need me to go check out an issue.”

Kenma blinked a few times then said, “oh, that’s okay. Do what you gotta do, right?”

Tadashi nodded, then smiled at Kenma, “well, thanks for letting me crash at your place last night and hang out. I had a really good time, it was relaxing.” 

Kenma gazed into Tadashi’s face and he looked like he was on the verge of wanting to say something, but he must have changed his mind. Instead, he nodded slowly a few times, then finally said, “it’s nice, having you around in person, you know? Thanks for lunch, and the other stuff..”

Then he closed the distance between them, wrapping his arms around Tadashi in a warm hug. Tadashi stood for a second with his arms hovering in the air in surprise by the sudden affection, but returned the hug, patting Kenma’s back idly. The latter did seem a little stressed out after their lively excursion, and Tadashi wasn’t sure how much comfort he’d need or want as it was still hard for him to tell. 

Kenma let go a few moments later, then started walking away towards his house. He turned around as he walked and waved lazily, “see ya later, Tadashi.”

“See ya, Kenmacat,” Tadashi called back, a little subdued. He watched Kenma as he turned back around and meandered away down the street. Then Tadashi pulled out his phone and plugged in the address the secretary texted him into his GPS. He started off towards his new destination, but immediately wished that he could have had more time to be with Kenma. He stopped abruptly and stared blankly at the random cityscape ahead of him for a beat or two as he got lost in his sudden realization.  _ Oh. I want to be with Kenma. I really, really want to be with Kenma. I’m not getting pulled along, this is what I want.  _

He took a deep breath slowly in and out, to curb his building anxiety. This was an easy fix. There was an easy solution. He would just have to find out what Kenma wanted too, but he was almost one-hundred percent sure he knew the answer.


	17. KK

It was almost August, and Kenma didn’t know where the time had gone. He did his usual routine; streaming, making ‘let’s play’s, video editing, running his small production company for all the content he created, and even starting doing some unboxing videos. However, it all felt unfinished. A building ebb of frustration lapping in the back of his mind like he couldn’t find the final star in Mario and as usual, he refused to use a guide. After analyzing his situation thoroughly, he came to the conclusion that it was because of Tadashi. He had spent time with Tadashi in person over a few weekends but now his soulmate hadn’t been back to Tokyo in several weekends since. Kenma soured at the idea that Tadashi’s company switched around their training schedules like they were barely trying to organize chaos. The incremental time together followed by the months apart hit home the notion that Tadashi was the missing piece.

Kenma clicked through some of his current video edits and sighed, feeling somewhat bored, when his phone pinged. He snatched it up briskly to see who it was.

**_New chat message with Kuroo_ **

**_Kuro 9:01AM :_ **yo yo I’m at the store. Need anything?

**_Applepi 9:01AM :_ **apple pie.

**_Kuro 9:02AM :_ **dude. You can’t just eat apple pie. I just got you one like.. 2 days ago. Stop eating your feelings 

**_Applepi 9:03AM :_ **who’s eating feelings? That’s why I asked for pie. Duh

Kenma scoffed at his phone, disagreeing with Kuroo on a fundamental level that apple pie would ever be something anyone could have too much of, and glanced back at his computer. A moment later, he heard his phone ping again and he wondered idly if Kuroo was going to try to harass him into eating better now that the door was open again on that conversation. He flickered his eyes over to the notifications bubble and saw that it was actually Tadashi, then snatched the phone up again.

**_Chat message with Tadashi_ **

**_Freckles 9:04AM :_ **sooooooo guess what! I JUST finished my last in-person class! Yay! 

**_Freckles 9:04AM :_ **the rest of my curriculum is online now, what a relief.. i didn’t wanna admit it before, but going around Sendai for the internship and trying to make it to in-person classes on time was actually a little more than I bargained for…

**_Applepi 9:05AM :_ ** oh that’s awesome that you don’t have to travel for both now, congrats 

**_Freckles 9:06AM :_ **Yep! And the company knows it too since they’re so connected with the school with the internship thing. Anyway, they’re thinking of transferring me to Tokyo full time. They even started talking to me about small details like area of focus and all that and are having me come down to discuss it in person. I dunno what exactly, but they mentioned that the Tokyo branch really liked me or smthing 

**_Applepi 9:07AM :_ **really? That’s good that your work was appreciated. Tokyo is nice 

**_Freckles 9:07AM :_ **haha! Must be if ur still there even though you could literally be anywhere :)

**_Freckles 9:08AM :_ **anyway, just heard from Shouyou.. not sure if he texted you or not, but he seems kinda down. He didn’t get a chance to meet up with Kageyama while he was in Rio for the Olympics. I guess there was too much confusion with Kageyama’s schedule or smthing

**_Applepi 9:09AM :_ ** ill text him too. You kno, he just got a new beach volley partner too, so maybe it’s both.. seems kind of touch and go for him there sometimes. But he told me that he didn’t mind having anyone as a partner.. something about flexibility 

**_Freckles 9:10AM :_ **hmmmmmm he told me that too. I think he might be homesick 

**_Freckles 9:10AM :_ **oh trains here, gotta catch it, see ya

Kenma blinked at his phone for a second or two, realizing that Tadashi had mentioned he was heading to Tokyo. Apparently, he meant today. The front door shut loudly from down the hall and Kenma jolted, momentarily forgetting that Kuroo and Daichi were staying with him for a few days before they could move into their new rental. His friends’ living situation had changed recently when Suga and Kageyama decided that they wanted to move into their own place. Kuroo seemed lackadaisical about the move while Daichi fretted about it, but Kenma just lamented the loss of easy access to delicious meals. He got up and wandered into the kitchen, where he found Kuroo putting away groceries.

“I got you apple yogurt,” Kuroo said blandly, shaking a little cup of it in the air in greeting, then tossing it into the fridge drawer.

“Mmn, that works, thanks,” Kenma said quietly. 

Kuroo paused his task, glancing back around at Kenma, “you want it now? You’re streaming soon, right? You look angsty.”

“Angsty?” Kenma questioned and Kuroo shrugged, so he continued, “I’m alright. Stream’s in ten. I’m gonna go set up, see ya.”

He wandered out of the kitchen, catching a flippant, swishy wave from Kuroo, and found his way back to his gaming room to get things going.

A few hours later, Kenma wrapped up his stream and sat back in his chair, staring at the now motionless desktop. It was only about two in the afternoon, and he decided that maybe the yogurt would be a good idea by now. He got up and started for his new goal, then paused briefly, the blinking lights on his modem catching his attention. He casually shuffled over to it and twisted the little metal clasp, tugging it out just a smidge. 

Kuroo’s voice suddenly came from the living room, “Oya? Kenma! The internet’s out..” his friend appeared in the doorway a second later, “everything okay? Weren’t you streaming-... What are you doin’?” 

Kenma looked up at Kuroo, wide-eyed for a flash at being caught red-handed, and withdrew from his equipment smoothly, “nothing. Dunno. I’ll call someone to fix it.” 

Kuroo narrowed his eyes at him in return, “uhhhh huh.. you do that, then… listen, Daicchan and I are gonna go see a movie. Wanna come?”

“No. I’m going to wait on the internet fix,” Kenma said easily, starting to walk towards the kitchen. 

“Mmmhm, gotcha. Good ol’ internet fix, eh? Okay, well see ya later,” Kuroo said skeptically, then left.

Kenma watched him for a second, then pulled out his phone and called Solarstar, requesting Tadashi, just like last time. Then all he had to do was wait. He pulled out his handheld game system and loaded up a simple, time-consuming, farming simulation to take his mind off the real waiting game.

Just half an hour later, his doorbell rang and he pocketed his system in the front of his hoodie, then answered the door, opening it a crack. Tadashi leaned around, lining himself up with the crack, and waved, “Hey, Kenmacat.”

Kenma opened the door fully and let his soulmate pass, stealing a quick once-over at his easy, pleasing countenance, “hi.”

Tadashi smiled, taking off his shoes, and simply headed towards the gaming room, “so, internet’s out, yeah? Hope it didn’t interrupt your stream..”

“Mmmn, it didn’t,” Kenma replied, following him to the office. Tadashi went up to the computer and bent over, peering at the screen and clicking around through some windows. Kenma just leaned on the sliding door frame of the room, pulling out his handheld system and unpausing his game. He tapped away at the little plots of digital dirt while also spying on Tadashi‘s progress; secretly timing how fast he would solve the mystery of the internet outage. His soulmate walked over to the modem in the next second and started inspecting the cable connections. _Ah hah.. less than two minutes._

“You know,” Tadashi said airily, turning the modem and fully detaching the cable, “you can always just text me, and I’ll come over.. you don’t have to sabotage your connections… I guess, unless you’re into it.”

Kenma snorted a soft laugh, keeping his eyes trained on his system, and decided not to confirm or deny the accusation.

“Kenma, we’re… friends, right?” Tadashi asked, fiddling around with the coaxial cable and plugging back into the right spot. 

Kenma glanced up from his handheld system, “yes and no.”

Tadashi’s mouth pressed into a thin line like he couldn’t decide if this conversation was going in the direction he anticipated. An urgent beeping drew Kenma’s attention back to his screen but now seemed like a good time to see where Tadashi stood on everything.

“Mmmn… I mean, we’ve been friends for a long time, Tadashi… we’re soulmates,” Kenma said after a beat, then flicked his eyes back up to the other before asking, “tell me, what do you want?”

“I want to be together,” Tadashi said immediately, quietly, but with unwavering confidence. 

“Then… move in with me,” Kenma replied simply. Tadashi gazed back at him looking a little surprised with his mouth drifting open. Kenma put down his game system on a shelf and walked over, taking one of his soulmate’s hands in his own, “are you ready to be won over yet?”

“What?” Tadashi gripped his hand back comfortably, “you won me a long time ago…?”

Kenma couldn’t hold back anymore and swiftly rose up on his toes, reached out to take Tadashi’s face in his free hand then kissed him. Tadashi responded immediately, kissing him back like it was the most obvious, natural idea in the world, then deepened it. He wrapped an arm around the small of Kenma’s back and pulled him in close. It felt like an endgame with a perfect, dynamic cutscene and Kenma was finally satisfied. 

Tadashi broke the kiss, but still held on like he wasn’t ever planning on letting go again and said, “yes, I would love to move in, if you’ll have me.”

“Well, I won you, so you’re mine,” Kenma said quietly, wondering how seriously Tadashi would take his joke. 

Tadashi just gazed back into his eyes, an amused smile building on his face until he laughed and stammered through it, “hah! I think.. I most definitely am.” Then he swooped down and kissed him again, unexpectedly. But Kenma really loved being surprised by Tadashi with his vast depths of character and had no qualms being attended to so closely by him. 

They stayed absorbed in each other for an indiscernible amount of time until they heard a light throat-clearing coming from the doorway of the office. Kenma had backed Tadashi against the shelving that held all his electronics and was leaning flush against him, hands wandering under clothing. He looked over at the interruption and spied Kuroo and Daichi standing there, gazing at them incredulously. 

“Fuckin’ finally,” Kuroo swore, putting his hands on his hips, “Suga-chan owes me twenty bucks.”

Daichi nudged him in the ribs for the comment but was grinning anyway, “hey there Tadashi-kun. Long time no see.. how’s, uh, Sendai?”

“It’s fine. Tokyo is way better,” Tadashi said, blinking at them like he was mildly petrified at being caught in a compromising state, but continued mechanically, “how’s, um.. school going?”

“Ah, it’s good, it’s good.. we uh, brought back some dinner… if you guys wanna join us?” Daichi said, still grinning and very clearly amused by the situation.

“Give us a minute,” Kenma said in a low monotone, and looked pointedly between the two.

Kuroo just laughed and walked away down the hall, muttering something about ‘text Suga for my money’ and Daichi nodded then followed him. Kenma looked back up into Tadashi’s face, “you’ll stay, right?”

“I will,” Tadashi replied, bringing his hand up from Kenma’s waist to his hair, gently smoothing out the strands that had been disheveled, “and even if I need to go, I’ll always come right back.”


	18. YT Mini Epilogue

Tadashi moved around the kitchen of his new place, which was really Kenma’s place originally. He wondered when it would feel right to consider it their place, but he felt completely peaceful and at-home whenever he was with Kenma; so maybe the location didn’t really matter. Regardless, it was a comfortable, aesthetically pleasing house and he was used to everything now since he moved in about two months ago.

He finished up making a few sandwiches and brought them to the gaming room. Kenma was in his chair at his computer, clicking away, and just as engrossed as usual. Tadashi walked over and carefully lifted the plate up and over the back of the chair. He made a slight show of lowering it down in front of the other’s face with a flourish in an attempt to catch his attention.

“‘Hottie alert’... ‘Oo the hotties back with a vengeance’... ’who dat who dat who dat’... ‘I’d let that guy spread-“ Kenma said aloud in his quiet tone then whipped his head around and looked into Tadashi’s face, “you know I’m live, right?”

“Huh? What?!” Tadashi yelped and bodily flung himself away from the camera again. Kenma just laughed and turned back to his computer, glancing at the chatbox.

“One sec,” He clicked around, maybe muting the microphone then turned to Tadashi again, smirking, “thanks for the sandwich.”

“Ahh! Sorry, Kenmacat! I thought you ended at twelve-thirty today!” Tadashi leaned back against the shelves and facepalmed, then dragged his hand through his own hair pushing it back off his forehead for a second. He peeked back at Kenma, who was still very closely watching him. Then Kenma held up a finger in front of his screen that seemed to say ‘one more’, got up from his chair, and swiftly enveloped Tadashi in a tight embrace.

“It’s really okay, don’t worry about it. You kinda, uh, peak a bit of interest anyway…” Kenma said as he let go and blatantly huffed a few more breathy snickers at Tadashi’s embarrassment. Then he slid back into his chair, popped his headphones on, and clicked around some more before, “mmn, soulmate.”

Tadashi squinted at him, still plastered against the shelves. Kenma flicked his eyes to him and said softly, “they saw your wrist, Tadashi, cat’s outta the bag.”

Tadashi let out a bright laugh, then covered his mouth quickly and retreated through the door of the office, waving off Kenma loftily. He shook his head to himself once he was free of online scrutiny and went back into the kitchen to wash some dishes.  _ He’s so bold.. claiming me to his viewers.. I can’t believe I got caught on video again.. _

“So, how often does that happen?” Kuroo-san’s voice chimed out from the kitchen table and Tadashi startled, not realizing that the guy was there.

“Kuroo-san! Man, you just gave me a heart attack!.. when did you get here?” Tadashi asked while picking up the sponge he had dropped.

“Just a little while ago.. I always avoid going into that gaming-office-room-pit-of-no-return if I can help it, especially with the number of times Puddin’head’s kicked me out,” Kuroo-san replied blandly, resting a cheek in his hand as he leaned forward on the table, “I’m equal parts shocked, terrified, and impressed that Kenma lets you in there.” 

“Hm? Ahhh well, I know I’ve messed up his streaming a few times, but he’s never told me not to come in..” Tadashi responded sheepishly, scrubbing a bowl.

“Must be love,” Kuroo-san remarked, smirking back at Tadashi mischievously, “honestly, I’m so glad you guys finally worked it out. He was after you for months.. maybe even years..”

“Huh?!”

“Yeeeeep, a real long time coming on his part.. I’ll say that I’m not surprised in the least that you didn’t know.. even if you did chit chat like, what? Every day?” Kuroo-san said lightly, inspecting his nails on his free hand nonchalantly. Tadashi tilted his head at Kuroo-san, trying to figure out if he was being provoked in some way.

“I see.. it uh, took me a while.. to uh, realize what I wanted. I just assumed it was the same for him, I guess,” Tadashi answered the non-question anyway. 

“All’s well that ends well!” Kuroo-san said brightly, grinning. 

Tadashi was about to comment back again, but he suddenly felt his sweatshirt tug tautly around his middle and something sneaking up his back across his skin. It made him shiver and he held out his arms and froze, dripping water onto the floor from a wet dish. Two seconds later, he realized that it was Kenma, as the other snaked his arms around his stomach under his shirt. His soulmate had stuffed his entire head and torso inside the back of Tadashi’s sweatshirt like he was attempting to wear it too, but it was already inconveniently being worn. 

“Mmamwich waaz ghud,” Kenma said, wholly muffled by the fabric, but undeterred.

“You’re welcome,” Tadashi responded politely, then went back to washing some cups.

“Wowza.. now that’s some next-level romance right there. You should sell tickets to this show,” Kuroo-san commented, perfectly happy to just watch them.

“Nesst vvlebbevl? Vvyaaaaa, uuh vvwuuhheennh,” Kenma mumbled, sounding both pleased and bored. 

Tadashi laughed and patted the other’s arm affectionately through his sweatshirt, getting it a little damp from the water on his hands, “you got there without a guide too. I have a feeling you’ll always win, no matter how long it takes you.”


End file.
